Lily Potter and the Skeleton Key
by LuckOfLuck
Summary: Lily Potter enters Hogwarts an excited, nervous eleven-year-old apprehensive about living up to expectations. With a brother named after two of the Marauders, after all, she has a lot to live up to! Follow Lily on her adventures with her friends, and on a journey to finding herself. Please review! It'd be great to get some constructive criticism or an opinion! All reviews welcome!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I don't own Harry Potter, nor the characters that you recognize. If I did, that would be awesome, but JK Rowling does, and that's probably for the better :) Enjoy! **

Lily ran a brush through her red hair (thanks to Weasley blood), and straightened her belongings in her trunk for the thousandth time. Today's the day. As in first day of Hogwarts day. As in, she'd finally become a real witch day. As in the first day of her life thus far.

"Lily, sweetheart, we'll be late!" Her mother called, already having accomplished the task of getting her two older boys, James, age fourteen, and Albus, thirteen, into the car. Now it was just a matter of eleven-year-old Lily.

"Coming, mum!" Lily shouted down the stairs. She closed the lid on her trunk, grabbed the handle of her small, grey, unnamed owl's cage, and jammed her wand into her pocket. She was about to drag the trunk down the stairs, when her father appeared behind her.

"Here, Lils, I got that. Why don't you run down and find Mum? I think she has something for you," Harry grinned, his green eyes sparkling with pride and unshed tears of joy.

"Okay," she nodded, and took the stairs two at a time, as usual. She found her mother in the kitchen, putting Lily's favorite strawberry jam on toast, and holding it out to her. Lily accepted the offering, her face pale and her heart ramming her ribs.

"Lily, you look as terrified as I did on my first day," Ginny chuckled, and hugged her daughter. "What's bothering you so much?"

"Well…I…I want into Gryffindor so badly, Mum," Lily furrowed her brow. "And everyone's expecting me to get it, because Al and James did. So if I don't get it, I'll be upset, and everyone else will too."

"Lily, darling, your father and your brothers and I, not to mention all your uncles and aunts and cousins, will love you no matter what. No one will be upset if you don't get into Gryffindor. Even if you get into Slytherin, we'll still stand by you. But do you want Gryffindor because everyone else wants it, or because you want it?"  
Lily's eyes widened because her mother thought she didn't actually want the house she'd always dreamed of being in. "No, mum, I want it because Gryffindor is the best house. All the best Quidditch players were Gryffindors, and you were a Gryffindor, and I wouldn't want anything else!"

Ginny laughed, and planted a kiss upon her daughter's head. "Don't think for one second that you have to want Gryffindor. The other houses are just as honorable. And if you fit in better in another house, then that's perfectly okay. One of my best friends was a Ravenclaw. Come to the think of it, I dated one, too…" Lily grimaced and Ginny smirked at her daughter, ruffling her hair. "Seriously, Lily, there are other houses besides Gryffindor. Some of the bravest people around were Hufflepuffs, you know about Cedric Diggory! And Tonks- she was one of my closest friends. And Horace Slughorn, he was a _Slytherin_, and he saved the school! Greatness is achieved in all houses, Lily. Don't feel like you need to be in any one of them."

And though Ginny said this, she knew her daughter was the spitting image of herself, with her fiery personality and Harry's passion, making her the prime Gryffindor. But then again, the Sorting Hat often surprised everyone. After all, Scorpius Malfoy was made a Gryffindor, and the moment that happened, everyone expected the apocalypse to begin. And that was before Scorpius and Albus became joined at the hip.

So, Ginny knew the Sorting Hat could throw a curveball at the family. And Ginny also knew that the Sorting Hat was never wrong, and no matter where Lily was placed, it'd be perfect.

"But you know what, Lil? I know that wherever you go, you'll always be my Lily. I'll always love you, and you'll always be brave and courageous and passionate. Your house will never change who you are." Ginny continued. "And if it means that much to you, you will be able to choose Gryffindor. The Sorting Hat only suggests the best house for you. In the end, the decision is yours."

"Really?" Lily's brown eyes sparkled.

"Really." Ginny smiled. "And, Lily, I have a little gift for you."

"Really? Why?" Lily grinned excitedly.

"No reason, you're just starting the rest of your life is all," Ginny winked at her daughter. "Well, I know you've practiced hard with your brothers all summer, and greatly improved as a Quidditch player. Hogwarts doesn't allow first years to have brooms, but they never said a thing about this," Ginny held up a battered, grass stained Quaffle. "I want you to take this with you, okay?"

"Mum," Lily's eyes shone. "This is your _championship _Quaffle. Are you sure you want me to take it?"

"Positive, darling."

"Wow, thanks, mum!" Lily said, awestruck. "But…" Her voice faltered. "First years aren't allowed on the team."

"Lily, whether or not you're on the team, you're still my favorite Quidditch player I know, don't tell your brothers. You can still practice with friends, I know Hugo's as Quidditch obsessed as you are." Ginny smoothed her daughter's hair, and kissed her forehead.

"Thanks, mummy. I love you," Lily hugged her mother, who squeezed back.

"I love you so much, Lily Luna," Ginny said. "Now, let's go get in the car. We'll be late."

As they got in the car, James grinned, and said, "You all ready to go, baby sister?"

"I'm _not _a baby," Lily growled, frustrated. Ginny laughed because Lily sounded exactly like Ginny as a child, being the youngest of seven growing up.

"Don't listen to him, Lil," Albus grinned. "And don't be too afraid, either. You'll have so much fun once we get there."

"Thanks, Al," Lily leaned toward her older brother slightly. He'd always been just a little nicer to her than James, not to say that James was mean, but he liked to tease.

"No problem. So, what are you going to call your owl?" Albus ruffled Lily's hair, much to her annoyance. She grimaced, and he laughed. Albus liked to tease, too.

"I don't know," Lily shrugged.

"Well, we're all named after dead people," James smirked. "So just think of someone that we're not named after."

"_James_!" Ginny scolded.

"Sorry," James mumbled wearily, as though this was a usual routine, which it was.

"Mum," Lily said slowly, a thought coming to her head. "What if I named her after someone alive, not dead?"

"Sounds great, Lily. Who do you have in mind?" Ginny squeezed Lily's knee reassuringly.

"Well," Lily's face bloomed a brilliant red. "What about Granger? Aunt Hermione's maiden name? All the stories say she was the brightest witch of her age, and you guys say it regularly."

"I think that's a brilliant idea!" Harry grinned at his young daughter.

"So do I. Hermione will be honored." Ginny replied.

The car pulled up to King's Cross, and shuddered to a stop. The five Potters clambered out of the car, Albus and James chattering excitedly, Lily looking like she was about to throw up, and Ginny and Harry wearing a mix of pride and sadness on their faces, knowing that in a few minutes, they'd be without children until Christmas.

The children claimed three trolleys, and discreetly crossed the barrier onto platform nine and three quarters. A brilliant red train whistled in the station, steam pouring from it, making everyone appear in silhouette. Laughing, excited children ran around in between weeping, proud parents. The Potters soon spotted the Weasleys, Hermione, Ron, Hugo, and Rose, as well as Fleur and Bill with Dominique, Louis, and Victoire, although she was not going for she had already graduated, and Percy, Audrey, Lucy, and Molly, and George, Angelina, Fred, and Roxanne.

After hugs hello, the hugs goodbye began. Fred, James, Albus, Dominique, and Lucy were the first of the clan to board the train. Fred was a fifth year, James and Dominique fourth years, and Rose, Lucy, and Albus third years. Soon, only Lily, Hugo, and Louis were left.

Hermione knelt down and looked in her son's eyes. "Hugo, sweetheart, you're going to be brilliant. Don't worry about a thing, all right? Your father and I love you very much." She kissed him on the cheek. "We'll miss you!"

"Goodbye, Hugh, I love you!" Ron hugged his son, using Hugo's nickname, which he only allowed his father to use. After giving both aunts and uncles hugs, Hugo gave one last glance, and boarded the train.

"Louis, my son, you are very smart, and very brave. You will excel," Fleur squeezed her son, who looked like a miniature, male version of herself. "Je t'aime!"

"I love you, too, mum," the tow headed boy hugged his mother, then his father, who ruffled his hair and told him that he loved him. After hugging the rest of the remaining relatives, Louis, too, boarded the scarlet engine.

Lily was the last first year of the family left standing on the platform. Harry knelt down and looked in her deep, brown eyes that reminded him so much of Ginny.

"Lily Luna Potter, you have bravery like Aunt Hermione, a sense of humor like Uncle Ron, passion and Quidditch skill like your mother, and a knack for trouble like myself." Harry winked at her, and she giggled. "You would fit in perfectly in any house the Sorting Hat may choose. If you really want Gryffindor, the Hat will know, and place you there. You are the best young witch I know, and I love you so much."

Lily gripped her dad's shoulders as he hugged her. "Thanks, dad," she whispered. "I love you, too."

Ginny hugged Lily next. "Lily, I love you. Remember what I told you earlier. And whatever will happen, it'll happen, and it'll all work out in the end. I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you, mummy," Lily's voice quivered, to her surprise. She rarely ever cried.

"You'll be brilliant," Hermione pulled Lily into a welcome hug. "I love you."

"See you, Lil," Ron ruffled his niece's hair. Lily hugged the remaining Weasleys, said her "I love you"s and goodbyes and "I promise I'll write"s, and slowly climbed aboard the train.


	2. Chapter 2

Lily spotted Louis and Hugo in a compartment with a couple other first years, and relieved to see a familiar face, entered, and sat down next to him.

"Hey, Louis," Lily turned to the tow-headed, blue eyed boy.

"Excited?" Louis replied, eyes wide. Lily shrugged in reply.

"Same."

Suddenly, the door burst open, and two boys burst in. A brown haired, green-eyed boy collapsed on the bench next to Lily, grinning. The other boy, wearing the same friendly, joking grin, sat on the bench across from them. He was tall, and skinny, with curly black hair, and brown eyes that seemed to laugh at themselves.

"Thought I'd missed the train, my dad almost had a fit when he'd thought it left," the blue-eyed boy said, good-naturedly. "I'm Rory, by the way."

"And I'm Sam," grinned the other.

Lily couldn't find her voice, but Louis answered for her. "I'm Louis, and these are my cousins, Lily and Hugo."

The other girl in the compartment smiled, and said, "I'm Clarabel."

The boy said, "Gavin, nice to meet you."

Soon, Louis, Hugo, and Gavin began to chat, and quickly became friends, and they moved to a different cabin to discuss the pros and cons of different brooms with some other first year boys. Lily tried to talk to Clarabel, but she wasn't very exciting. She was very nice, but Lily had absolutely nothing in common with the girl. Clarabel's friends walked by, and asked her to join them, so she did.

Soon, it was just Lily, Sam, and Rory. They began to talk, and Lily soon realized that Rory had a sense of humor, and an easygoing attitude, as well as an affinity for Quidditch, though he seemed to be a bit, well, _boyish_, and he didn't seem interested in schoolwork in the least, but Lily was okay with that, in the event that Rory remained kind and genuine like he was appearing to be.

Sam had the same friendly disposition, though he didn't know much about the Wizarding world, since he was Muggle-born. He seemed interested by Quidditch, though, and begged Lily and Rory for details. The two spent a great deal of time trying to explain the complex rules of Quidditch, but Sam picked up quickly, and seemed just as interested as Lily and Rory.

The compartment door opened again, and a smirking, pale boy with blond hair leaned against the doorframe. He wasn't exceptionally big, smaller than Lily, who was about average height.

His lips curled into a sickening smile. "So, Potter, my father told me you'd be in my year. He even said _we should be friends_." He mocked his father in a whiny, high-pitched baby voice. "My father seems to be an idiot."

Lily felt rage boiling inside her. "Who _are_ you?" She replied through gritted teeth. "What do you think you're doing?"

The boy laughed dryly. "So, daddy hasn't bothered to tell you who I am, then? Not surprised. Cepheus Malfoy. First year."

"_He's a cocky little git for someone who's not even thirteen,_" Lily thought. "_Either of my brothers could easily take him_."

Then, a boy with the same blond hair appeared in the doorway. "Scorpius," the boy smiled. "Sorry about my brother."

Scorpius grabbed Cepheus by the ear and dragged him away, scolding him about being nice and the like.

"Well, _that_ was strange," Rory chortled, eye brows raised.

"His father's Draco," Lily said, with sudden realization. "I've heard my dad talk about him. He used to be a Death Eater, but he finally turned himself around and joined the good guys. He knows my dad, they see each other sometimes at the Ministry."

Sam's nose wrinkled. "I don't like him one bit."

"Yeah," Rory agreed. "His dad and brother may be good, but that kid's all bad."

Lily sighed. "As long as none of us are in the same house as he is, I'll be happy."

The train soon pulled to a stop, and slowly, the students shuffled out, and into the carriages pulled by unseen animals, Thestrals. Arriving in Hogwarts, the first years followed the older kids into the Great Hall. Just outside the doors, James grabbed Lily's shoulder and pulled her aside.

"Lily, you're going to be scared when you go up to the Sorting Hat. I know I was," James placed his hands on his younger sister's shoulders. "But you shouldn't be. You'll be placed where you need to be placed, and even if you're in Slytherin, Albus and I will still kick the ass of any ruddy git that hurts you, okay?"

Lily laughed, and nodded.

"Good. But I know you won't be in Slytherin. Personally, I think you're Gryffindor material. But go get in line, the Sorting ceremony is about to start, and I have to head inside. See you in there, sis." James ruffled Lily's hair affectionately, and she got in line, slightly amazed at the show of affection from the brother that usually teased her to no end.

Lily stood in line, butterflies flapping madly inside her, as she watched her classmates be Sorted. Louis, after much consideration from the Sorting Hat, was placed in Hufflepuff, which didn't surprise Lily at all, besides the fact that he was the first of their family to be in anything but Gryffindor. Louis looked overjoyed, though, that he was in Hufflepuff, and his fellow housemates cheered and clapped, and congratulated him.

Rory was a few people behind Lily, but Sam was up in front of her. Gavin and Clarabel were in front of her, too. Gavin was put in Hufflepuff, and Clarabel was put in Ravenclaw.

"Sam Hughes!" A witch with glasses, a tight bun, thin but friendly mouth, and pointed hat called, and Sam stepped out of his spot, which had become the front of the light, and walked to the Sorting Hat.

The old, dirty hat sat on Sam's head for a second, before declaring, "Gryffindor!"

The Gryffindor table erupted in cheers as Sam trotted down to sit with them. The next person Lily noticed being sorted was Cepheus, and she only realized when his turn came because she'd been watching him, and ignoring the few people in between Cepheus and Sam.

The Hat barely brushed his hair before screaming, "Slytherin!"

Cepheus walked away looking smug, as Scorpius sat at the Gryffindor table, shaking his head sadly.

Lily's turn came sooner than she would have liked. Her insides were quivering crazily, as if they'd been injected with pure caffeine. She tried to stop the shaking in her hands as she sat on the chair, the Sorting Hat was placed on her head.

"Hm," it murmured so that on she could hear. "You are tricky to place. Your brains tell me you'd fit exceedingly well in Ravenclaw. Your kindness and yearning for friendship and loyalty push you towards Hufflepuff. But I sense a rage, a hatred, perhaps, that screams Slytherin."

At this, Lily's eyes widened, because she knew that the anger the hat was sensing was aimed _towards_ Slytherin. It wasn't blind rage. "_No, no, no,_" she thought. "_Not Slytherin. Anything but that. Anything but Slytherin._"

"Ah," the Sorting Hat sounded like it chuckled as it mused, reading her mind. "You're very much like your father. A great opposition to Slytherin. Very well, then. There's a bravery, and a determination inside you, I can feel it now. A burning passion. There's only one place where you'll find satisfaction, then. _Gryffindor_!"

It took a moment for that to sink in, but when she realized she'd been put in Gryffindor, Lily wanted to jump for joy. She forced herself not to run as she took her spot at the Gryffindor. Sam grinned at Lily and gave her a high five, while James and Albus gave her thumbs ups.

Sam and Lily watched with anticipation, the air between them thick, as Rory neared the front of the line.

"Rory Stretton?" Professor McGonagall read off the roll of parchment.

Nervously, he took his place in the front of the Great Hall, and his eyes followed the Sorting Hat being placed on his head.

The Sorting Hat instantly shouted, "Gryffindor!"

Rory breathed a sigh of relief, the color coming back into his face.

"Hey, guys," he whispered, grinning. "That was a close one, I thought I wasn't going to get Gryffindor."

"Neither did, I," Lily replied. "But I'm glad we did."

That was when Lily heard her cousin's name.

"Hugo Weasley?"

Hugo puffed out his chest, put on his best brave face, and walked up to the Sorting Hat.

"Gryffindor!" The hat bellowed, and Hugo beamed. He took his spot next to his sister, who patted him on the back, and kissed the top of his head, to his distress.

On the way to the Gryffindor Common Room after the feast led by Fred, who'd been made a prefect, Lily found herself next to Dominique, who squealed and hugged her.

"Congratulations, Lily!" Dominique grinned. "I'm super proud of you!"

Roxanne hugged her, as well, and so did Lucy.

"Way to go, Lil!" Roxanne grinned.

"Knew you'd get Gryffindor," Lucy smiled.  
"Hey, Lily," Rose bumped her hip. "Relieved?"

Lily rolled her eyes, grinning. "You have no idea."

"Look, come to me if you need anything, okay?" Rose said, her eyes softening. "If you don't want to talk to your brothers, or if you can't, you can talk to me. I'm here for you, kiddo."

"Thanks, Rose," Lily grinned, glad to be reminded she had a girl around.

"No problem," Rose smiled. Then there was a crash, and she sighed. "Sounds like Albus or James broke something again. I better go see what it is."

Rose stepped through the porthole, wincing as the Fat Lady sang horribly in her ear. Lily followed, and soon found Rory and Sam again, who were talking to Conrad Weaver and Duncan Hutchinson. The five, though, soon found themselves exhausted from the excitement of the day, and, after washing up and brushing her teeth, Lily fell into bed and slept like a rock.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Lily found herself squinting through sunlight into an unfamiliar room. Then, she remembered where she was: Hogwarts. Grinning and slipping out of bed, she padded to the washroom before returning to the first year girls Gryffindor dormitory and changing into her robes.

Lily walked into the Common Room to find James, Albus, Dominique, Rose, and their friends just leaving for breakfast.

"Hey, guys, wait!" Lily ran after them.

"'Morning," Dominique grinned, yawning. The other children greeted her in a similar fashion.

Lily slid onto the long bench at the Gryffindor table, a little ways away form her cousins and brothers, because she knew that even though they loved her, they wouldn't always want her jumping into their conversations and joining their group, because she was much younger.

She absentmindedly banged her heels against the leg of the bench, looking around the Great Hall. There were more or less half of the students already in there. Lily saw Clarabel, who caught her eye and waved, and Lily gave a small wiggle of the fingers and a smile back. Cepheus made a face at her, and she turned away, cheeks burning. She couldn't wait until Charms class, where she could learn to hex the pants off that kid.

Suddenly, a huge shadow loomed over Lily, and she turned around slowly, eyes wide. Slowly, her eyes traveled a large torso, and met those of a smiling, bearded man.

"Hello, Lily," Hagrid grinned. "Glad ter see yer finally at Hogwarts."

Lily jumped up and hugged the man. "Hagrid! Hi!"

"Yeh've gotten so big, you're a young lady now! Just like yer mother," Hagrid beamed, tears in his eyes. "Last time I saw yeh, yeh were a wee little girl."

"Hagrid!" Laughed Lily, hugging him around the hips, because that's how much taller he was than Lily. "You only saw me last month!"

"But still! Yeh're so big now! What're yeh up ter first period?" Hagrid asked, wiping gargantuan tears out of his large eyes.

"Um…" Lily looked at her schedule. "Potions." She wrinkled her nose.

Hagrid laughed. "Don't tell yer dad I said this, but he was right awful at Potions."

Lily grinned. "Don't worry, my lips are sealed."

"Yer mother, though, and yer aunt, they were both brilliant in Potions. Of course, yer aunt was good at everythin', and yer mum was a hard worker, on the Quidditch pitch and off." Hagrid said earnestly. "Of course, yeh probably already know all that. Well, I must be off to the staff table. See yeh around." Hagrid waved, and walked-er, stomped, to the front of the room where the staff table sat.

Lily saw Sam and Rory walk in, and she waved to them, and they sat next to her.

"Hey," Rory mumbled tiredly. "You're here early."

Lily blushed, slightly embarrassed. "I didn't want to be late."

Rory gave a tired nod.

A thought tugged at Lily's brain. "Hey, Sam, how did you learn you were a wizard and about Hogwarts and everything?"

Sam grinned. "Well, weird things always sort of happened while I was around. One time, in primary school, our class hamster exploded. I didn't mean to, of course," Sam added quickly. "I didn't even know it was happening. But anyway, no, I didn't have any idea of the wizarding world until my birthday, when Hogwarts sent the letter. My parents at first thought it was a joke, but the more they thought about it, the more sense it made, and so we went to Diagon Alley, and now here I am!" Sam said proudly.

"How about you?" Sam asked Lily.

"Oh, well, um," Lily began, slightly embarrassed of what she was about to tell them. She didn't want her friends just to like her because of her parentage. "My father is…well, my mother's Ginny Potter on the Holyhead Harpies. My dad's Harry Potter." She shrank lower in her seat, cheeks burning.

"Blimey!" Rory said, eyes wide. "_Those_ are your parents? Why didn't you mention it before? That's incredible!"

"I don't know," Lily mumbled, shrugging. "I guess I just didn't think it was important. You guys should like me for me, not my parents."

Rory shook his head. "We _do _like you for you! I didn't mean anything by what I said!"

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "We don't care who your parents are. It's just cool the way it turned out."

Lily smiled, and nodded, convinced. "All right."

Soon, the Great Hall was filled with the clatter of plates and silverware, and the happy chatter of students. Rory, Lily, and Sam became immersed in their toast and porridge, and didn't say another word for the rest of breakfast, mostly for the fact that their voices wouldn't have been heard over the clamor.

After revisiting the Gryffindor tower and collecting their Potions materials, the three headed down to the dungeon.

"Do you suppose all first years take the same classes at the same times?" Rory asked. "Or do you think it's just our house?"

"Well," Lily replied, "I think one of my brothers said that we have classes with one other house, but it's not always the same house. I think we have Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and Potions with the Slytherins, but that's all I remember."

Sam made a face. "The Slytherins? Ugh."

"I know," Lily replied, grimacing. "I _really _hope there was a scheduling error and Cepheus isn't with us."

To their dismay, there was no such scheduling error, but a very confused sixth year had been placed in their class, and had to go to Headmistress McGonagall's office to get things sorted out.

Running into the classroom, Rory, Sam, and Lily found that even though the bell hadn't rung, most of the class was already seated. Rory and Lily grabbed the nearest seats, and Sam sat next to them, but as soon as he sat on his chair, the old, rotted wood collapsed, and he was forced to find a new one. The only other seat was next to Cepheus Malfoy. Sam made a face, gagged, and sat down next to the pale Slytherin, who looked absolutely appalled that Sam was sitting next to him.

"What are _you doing_?!" Cepheus hissed.

Sam looked at him, trying to keep a blank expression. "Sitting down?" He replied.

"Go find another seat, _mudblood_." Cepheus spat.

Sam didn't reply. Hurt flashed across his face, and he turned to face forward, and didn't say another word for the rest of class. Lily, however, surprised herself with her knowledge.

"Does anyone know how many porcupine quills there are in the cure for boils?" Asked Professor Slughorn.

After a moment, Lily's hand shot up. She looked around, surprised to see that hers was the only hand raised.

"Yes, miss…?" Professor Slughorn looked at her.

"Potter, Professor." Lily replied, shifting in her seat.

"Ah, you look so much like your mother." He mused, smiling amicably.

"There are two porcupine quills in the potion, sir," Lily continued, remembering James complaining about how he could never remember how to make the simple potion.

"Very good, Miss Potter!" Professor Slughorn exclaimed, and Lily beamed.

"Now, as a bonus question, can you tell me how many nettles are used?" He continued, a glint in his eye.

Lily thought hard for a moment, racking her brain for when she'd read her copy of _Magical Drafts and Potions_, and what she'd heard James say.

"That's a trick question, sir," Lily answered slowly, crossing her fingers. "There isn't a set amount of nettles."

"That's correct! Five points to Gryffindor!" Replied Professor Slughorn, and Lily absolutely glowed. Rory gave her a high five.

However, when the class was actually _practicing _making the potion, one of Cepheus' friends, Gaius, threw a horned slug at her head, and she fumed for the rest of the class, wishing she knew her mother's famous Bat Bogey Hex. Lily was so angry with Gaius, but so excited about the rest of the day, that she completely messed up her potion, and it turned into a thick, black tar that gave off a horrible stink. Professor Slughorn was roaming the classroom, and when he reached a sweaty, confused Lily, he chuckled.

"Sorry, Professor," Lily mumbled, cheeks burning.

"That's quite all right," he replied with a smile. "Though next time, only add six snake fangs, not nine."

"Oh," Lily didn't meet his eyes. "Right."

Rory's potion, however, was perfect, it was even the correct color blue which neither Lily nor Sam could manage to create. It bubbled exquisitely, and Slughorn was ecstatic.

"Well done, my dear boy! Absolutely _exquisite_!" the professor clapped Rory on the shoulder, and he grinned.

"Thank you, sir," Rory replied happily.

"Good job," Lily whispered to him.

"Thanks, you, too," Rory replied.

Sam, however, was sitting and stirring his cauldron half-heartedly, a look on his face that could only be called a mixture of shame, offense, rage, and anguish. He swiped angrily at his eyes.

His cauldron frothed and smoked, but he didn't seem to notice or care. As the bell rang and the students hastily collected their books, Rory and Lily caught up with Sam, who was hastily walking out of the room, trying desperately to avoid Cepheus.

"Hey, what happened?" Lily turned her head to look at Sam, whose eyes were cast downward.

"Nothing," Sam muttered.

"Seriously, what happened? Are you all right?" Lily pushed.

"Yeah, Sam, you okay?" Rory asked his friend. "Whatever that little git said, it's not true."

"It _is_ true," Sam sighed desperately.

"Just tell us, it can't be that bad," Lily said, dread spreading through her.

"He called me…" Sam drew in a shuddery breath. "He called me a _mudblood_. Even I know what that means. Dirty blood."

"No," Lily breathed, her eyes wide. She may have been young, but she knew the seriousness of the term "mudblood". It wasn't what you'd called sophisticated. It was a rude, vulgar term.

"That ruddy little _wanker_," Rory's eyes flamed.

Lily fumed. She might have only met these boys yesterday, but they were the closest things she had to friends outside her cousins, and anyone insulting them would have to deal with her.


	4. Chapter 4

Lily looked around wildly for Cepheus, fists clenched. She spotted him, but felt a hand on her shoulder. Lily whipped around and found that it was Sam who'd placed his hand there.

"Look," he said. "I'm angry, too. But we can't stoop to his level." He lowered his eyes. "He'll get what's coming to him."

Lily sighed. "I suppose you're right."

Rory grinned. "Look!" He nudged Sam and Lily as Cepheus, smirking and oblivious to the puddle of spilled ink, slipped and fell on his behind, his books scattering everywhere. The three laughed and walked off to Astronomy.

Lily didn't totally understand astronomy, but found it fascinating. Sam was better at it than Lily and Rory, who couldn't tell the moon and Saturn apart. She sat next to a Gryffindor girl named Maggie McAlister, whom she found amicable and funny. Lily made a mental note to get to know her.

Herbology was a bore for Lily, Rory, and Sam. They found nothing interesting about plants, dirt, and humid greenhouses. Defense Against the Dark Arts, however, was exciting for everyone.

Professor Vanderlan was a middle-aged man with bright brown eyes and an encouraging voice. He handed out sheets of instructions, and walked the class through the beginnings of Curse of the Bogeys. At the end of class, Sam and Lily were doubled over with laughter as Rory acted out a scene in which he blasted Cepheus with the particular curse, and Cepheus ended up sprawled on the ground, sneezing and begging for mercy.

The thought of Cepheus helpless greatly improved Lily's mood. She walked jovially to Transfiguration. Once seated in between a Ravenclaw girl named Calypso Fenwick and Maggie, Lily realized who their teacher was: none other Cascadia Lanset, who used to play Quidditch for Pride of Portree, and, according to legend, had been known to transfigure her broom into various animals, usually birds, during boring moments in games and ride them around the field. She had long dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail, and twinkling blue eyes. Professor Lanset couldn't have been a day over thirty.

"Good afternoon, class! I'm your Transfiguration professor, Professor Lanset!" she grinned, standing in the front of the classroom.

Slowly, a Gryffindor boy named Erich James raised his hand. "Didn't you play left Chaser for Pride of Portree?"Erich asked without waiting to be called on.

Professor Lanset smiled fondly. "Yes, I did. But that chapter of my life is over, and today, I am your Professor. Let's take attendance, shall we?"

Lily immediately liked Professor Lanset. She seemed like a no nonsense kind of person, but in the nicest way possible, meaning that if you insulted her, she'd turn you into a bug, but only the prettiest of butterflies. She didn't use her ranking over her students, but treated them as partners.

As Professor Lanset handed out needles to be turned into matchsticks, she explained the importance of pronunciation. She demonstrated what could happen if you said "b" like a "p" or a "d". With that single mistake, you could end up with a stink bomb instead of a ferret.

That night, Lily decided to write a letter to her parents depicting her first day at school. She knew well enough that as the youngest child and only girl, her parents would be especially interested.

_Dear Mum and Dad_

_ I really like school so far. I saw Hagrid this morning, he's excited that it's my first year! I got placed in Gryffindor! So did Hugo, we're both really excited. Louis is in Hufflepuff, so I don't see him as much, but I have a few classes with him. I've met some kids I like, I think we're going to be friends. Their names are Sam, Rory, (both boys) and a girl named Maggie. The four of us don't hang out at the same time, usually it's either Maggie and me or Rory and Sam and me. I love my Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration teachers-they're awesome! How are things going at home?_

_ Lots of love,_

_ Lily_

Lily sealed the envelope and tied it to Granger's leg, who flew out of the common room window. She opened her bag, took out a fresh piece of parchment, and began to do her Potions homework, which was to write an essay about the importance of putting the right amount of ingredients in a potion.

Next, she worked on Astronomy, and Rory, sitting next to her, had absolutely no idea what was he was doing, so she spent the better part of half an hour showing him what to do. Sam could've helped him, but he hadn't done his Astronomy yet, and Maggie, who was sitting a chair or two away, was working intently on her Transfiguration worksheet.

Lily climbed into bed that night happy, excited, and exhausted. Her first day had been busy, but fun. As she lay in bed, her mind wandered to her friends. Lily sort of had three groups of friends. She had Rory and Sam, who seemed to already know each other, and Lily knew she'd never be as close with either of them as they were to each other, especially since she was a girl, which made her a little frustrated.

"_But_," she told herself, "_that's just the way it is_."

Lily also had Maggie and the rest of the Gryffindor first year girls, but she knew them even less than she knew Sam and Rory, and was apprehensive about just sort of jumping into their social circle. She knew she was being ridiculous, but Lily felt that the other girls were closer to each other, even though it had only been a day.

And last but not least, Lily had her brothers and cousins. Hugo and Louis were in her year, but Louis was a Hufflepuff and Hugo seemed to have found a group of boys to hang out with. She didn't think he'd be so enthusiastic about his girl cousin joining in their fun. Same with her brothers; Lily knew her brothers loved her, but they didn't want a little first year girl following them around. Rose had offered to be there for her, but Lily wasn't in desperate need of a confident, and wanted to give the older girls some space, and forge her own path, even if that meant being alone sometimes.

After mulling the situation over, Lily finally closed her eyes and soon, fell into a deep sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day was Quidditch tryouts. They took place thirty minutes after school ended, and classes were a blur for all Quidditch fanatics. Lily hurriedly pulled on her Quidditch tryout uniform and headed out to the shed where the first year, school issue brooms were kept. She grabbed her broom and walked onto the Quidditch pitch, accompanied by Hugo, and Rory. Sam, since he'd never played before, sat and watched in the stands. Neither Rory nor Lily nor Hugo had high hopes of making the team, since first years very, very rarely did, but they tried out anyway, just for the slightest chance.

Her brothers, Albus and James, were on the pitch, too, as well as Fred and Dominique. James played Keeper, Fred was the team captain, and a Beater. Dominique played Chaser. Albus hadn't made the team in previous years, and he was trying out for Seeker and Chaser.

Six other Gryffindors were trying out, too, making it nine students, ten counting Fred. Tryouts commenced, and Lily gripped her broomstick, zipping around through the air above the pitch. She loved the feel of the air whipping around her so fast it made her eyes water, and the sound of her robes snapping in the wind. Lily could clearly see, however, that neither she nor Rory or Hugo were the best candidates for the team. It dawned on her that they weren't going to make the team.

Nevertheless, Lily enjoyed Quidditch so much, that she played her hardest, even though she knew the outcome. There was no way a first year could beat fourth years. At the end of the scrimmage, Lily was grinning and breathing hard. The makeshift game part of the tryout had gone better than expected; Out of her team's fifty points (not counting the Snitch), she had scored about twelve of them, a feat that impressed even her. Rory was on her team and had scored about ten, and Hugo, who was also trying out for Chaser on the other team, had scored about five out of their forty-seven, but only because the Beaters on her team kept hitting the Bludger toward him. It wasn't on purpose, he just kept happening to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

At the end of the hour, the players were all station on the ground, nervously awaiting the results. Fred, looking a bit nervous, held a piece of parchment in his hand, containing this year's team.

"In no particular order: Eglantine Wood, Chaser! Tyler Prewitt, Beater! James Potter, Keeper! Myself, Beater! Dominique Weasley, Chaser! Xander Cormack, Chaser! And last but not least, Albus Potter, Seeker!" Fred called out each name. James whooped and thumped Albus on the back, and he bumped knuckles with the rest of his teammates. Fred made his way over to the three first years.

"Hey, guys. Look, I'm really sorry we couldn't put you on the team this year, I wish we had more spots to fill." Fred said apologetically.

Lily, eyes cast down, shrugged. She hadn't expected to make the team, but it still hurt that she didn't.

Rory grinned and said, "It's all right, do what you got to do, right?"

Hugo, however, looked just plain hurt. "You're our cousin, Fred!"

"Look, Hugo, there's nothing-" Fred began, but Hugo cut him off.

"Seriously!" Hugo's eyes flashed. "You know I practiced all spring and summer, and even in the middle of winter, and you still didn't put me on the team? I worked my butt off for nothing."

"Look, buddy," Fred tried again, but Hugo shot him a look, and ran off.

Lily looked from Fred to Rory to Fred again, before saying, "I'll go talk to him," and following Hugo off the pitch. She found him sitting against the tree by the Black Lake, angry tears spilling down his face.

"Hugo, what's wrong?" She asked cautiously, lowering herself to the ground beside him

He shot her a look, the same on as he shot Fred, and answered, "You know bloody well what's wrong."

"Look, Hugo, I didn't make the team either, you're not alone. Neither did Rory. No one makes the team as a first year." Lily replied, looking at Hugo, who'd buried his face in his knees, which were drawn up to his chest.

"But it's different," Hugo's voice was muffled.

"How?"

"Because," his voice quavered. "I'm supposed to be good at Quidditch. It's my _thing_, you know? Rose has her books like my mum and I'm supposed to be good at Quidditch like my dad. I just practiced _so hard_."

Lily accidentally let a laugh escape. "Hugo, my father made the team as a first year as a Seeker! And my mother was a professional Quidditch player, and I didn't even make the team. I practiced just as hard as you did. I really wanted to make the team, too. But I didn't and neither did you or Rory or Sam, he didn't even try out. They can stop us from playing on the team, but they can't stop us from playing," her eyes flashed mischievously exactly the way both her parents' did.

Hugo lifted his head, his voice hopeful. "What are you suggesting?" He asked, raising his eyebrows curiously.

"All I'm saying is, so what if we're not on the team? Let's make our own! It doesn't have to be official, we don't have to have the right amount of players or anything, but we can play whenever we want, we don't have to wait for the games! C'mon, you, and me, and Rory, and Sam. Louis, too, if he wants. And Louis' friends, you know, Gavin and them?" Lily said excitedly.

"Lily, you're brilliant!" Hugo grinned.

"I know," She laughed, and so did Hugo. She pulled him up off the ground and walked back to the pitch, where Fred was finishing putting away the balls.

"Sorry I got mad," Hugo mumbled, his ears bright red.

"It's all good, little dude," Fred grinned.

"Um, we were wondering, uh, if sometime we could borrow the balls?" Lily furrowed her eyebrows. "Hugo and I, we were thinking that even though we didn't make the team, we could still play sometimes?"

Fred looked at her curiously. "I don't think they'll let you just use the balls whenever. Luckily, I think I have just the thing for you." He grinned. "See, in Hogsmeade, they sell these things, they're like sets of Quidditch balls, but the Bludgers are rubber, and you can recall the Snitch with a whistle if you want to stop playing before it's caught. I'll pick up a set next time there's a trip, yeah?"

Lily and Hugo looked at each other wide eyed. "Really?" Lily was almost jumping up and down.

"Sure, why not? Give you guys some practice, I bet if you practice all year, you'll rock tryouts next year."

"Thanks!" Lily grinned.

"Yeah, thanks so much!" Hugo smiled as well.

"No problem," Fred ruffled his cousins' hair. "You two run off and change, dinner's in half an hour."

Lily and Hugo ran off to the Gryffindor tower with renewed gusto. Once there, she relayed the news to Rory and Sam, who were delighted. During dinner, she informed Louis, Gavin, and their other friends, who were just as excited. She fell asleep with a smile on her face that night.

The next day, Cepheus walked up to her, looking as smug as ever. "Heard you and your crybaby cousin didn't make the Quidditch team," he sneered. "Neither did that Rory fellow. Not too bright, is he? Can't tell the difference between a star and a planet!" He shook with laughter. Lily shook with anger.

"Hugo is _not _a crybaby," she said through gritted teeth, her fists clenched. "And so what if Rory isn't great at Astronomy? That doesn't make him stupid."

"Aw, sticking up for your friends, are we?" Cepheus replied in a baby voice. "How cute."

Lily was about to call him something rude, when Scorpius walked up behind Cepheus.

"Making friends, Cepheus?" Scorpius asked with a knowing smile.

Cepheus forced a smile that looked more like a grimace. "Yes."

"I think one of your friends wanted to talk to you," Scorpius gave his brother a gentle shove in the opposite direction. Cepheus walked over to his group of goons.

"I'm sorry about him," Scorpius said to Lily. "He's not usually like this."

"It's okay," Lily mumbled, before Scorpius got swept away by Albus and their friends.

Lily's heart pounded, and she was breathing fast. She backed up slowly, unsure of what to do. Professor Slughorn had sent her to the greenhouses to get more Flatroot, and she had done so with no trouble, but upon entering the school again and walking down the long entrance corridor into the small one leading to the staircase down to the dungeons, she'd heard a small, desperate noise from behind the closed door of a classroom.

Curious, she opened the door and stepped inside, looking around for the person she'd heard. Once inside, the door had slammed shut. There, sitting on a desk, looking plenty pleased with himself, was an Erkling.

It had small, dark eyes, a large, sickly grinning mouth filled with razor sharp teeth, and a desire to lure children into its presence.

Lily felt her heart jump into her throat. She'd heard about these before, she vaguely remembered some of her uncles discussing them, but she had no idea how to handle it. They hadn't done anything like this is Defense Against the Dark Arts yet, and she, being only eleven, just a first year, had no prior experience with such a creature. The only thing she could recall from her uncles' conversation was that they were known to kill.

Of course, the number of killings in recent years had gone down, thanks to the Ministry, but that didn't stop the Erklings altogether.

The Erkling cackled, startling Lily out of her musings. She shuddered at the thought of what it might do to her.

Though it was no less than three feet tall, Erklings were vicious. Their teeth were small knives, their fingernails more like claws. They had a constant, malicious glimmer in their small, black, eyes, and a sick smile on their faces.

Lily fumbled for her wand, but once she held it, she couldn't focus enough to think of a spell, and even if she had been able to, her hand was shaking so much that she probably would have cast it upon herself.

Quick as a flash, the Erkling disappeared from the table, and Lily looked around wildly, trying to locate the creature. Suddenly, a heavy, dull pain bloomed on the back of her skull.

The Erkling had thrown a particularly thick tome at her, and was currently cackling itself to tears.

Lily tried to swallow the lump in her throat. She couldn't get out of the room, that was for sure. The Erkling would never let her, and even if it did, there were two problems: 1) she wasn't entirely sure she could even get the door open, because she saw the Erkling charm the door once he closed it and 2) the Erkling would still be inside the building even if she escaped, which meant that unless she had lightning speed, which she did not, another student would be captured by the time she got a teacher.

Lily hadn't been made a Gryffindor for nothing, and she summed up her bravery.

She screwed her face up, wrinkled her nose, pointed her wand, and shouted, "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

And…she missed. The Erkling merely disappeared from its position and appeared on the opposite side of the room. It was a quick little thing, malicious and clever. It cackled, and a shiver ran up Lily's spine.

It snapped its fingers. Lily felt her legs buckle beneath her, and, powerless, was thrown at the wall, which was a few feet away. She wasn't thrown hard enough to be injured, but it didn't feel good.

"_This thing knows magic, too? I'm in _way _over my head_," Lily thought, as she scrambled up, panic dissipating the bravery. Her heart beat harder in her chest, and, as her thoughts grew foggy, she forced herself to remain calm, which was getting increasingly diffuclt.

The Erkling snapped its fingers again, and this time, Lily's wand broke free of the pocket of her robes, and as it reached out to catch it, the door burst open with a crash, and the Erkling let the wand clatter to floor.


	6. Chapter 6

Two young boys stumbled into the room. One with a black hair, and a determined look on his face. The other with startling blue eyes, and confusion crossing his face.

The blue eyed boy saw Lily and grinned. "Hey.

Lily looked at him strangely, as though he'd worn pyjamas to class. "Hello." She swallowed, nervous.

"We got worried when you didn't come back to class, Professor McGonagall sent us to find you," Rory explained. Then he saw the Erkling. "Dear Merlin."

"What?" Sam asked, looking around wildly. "What is it?"

"Sam, an Erkling. She's been in here with an _Erkling_," Rory said in a shaky voice.

"Is that it?" Sam pointed to the cackling, elf-like creature.

"More dangerous than it looks," Rory nodded. He turned to Lily. "You all right?"

Lily nodded. "I'm fine. But the…the Erkling." Her eyes widened. "I used Petrificus Totalus, it just moved out of the way. You can't hit it."

"Well," Sam said slowly, an idea forming. "Maybe not _alone_."

"What?" Lily cocked her head.

"Sam, what are you talking?" Rory said, looking more confused than before.

"We'll all go at the same time. Lily, you stay here. I'll go over there," Sam gestured to the left. "And Rory, you go over there." He pointed to the right.

Rory and Lily nodded, catching on.

"Lily?" Rory's eyes grew wide. "Where's your wand?"

"It's…" Lily felt her pocket. "Oh-he disarmed me. It's on the floor. How do I get it?"

Sam looked at her. "Well, I say you should probably run very fast, grab it, and get back."

Lily gave him the same look she'd given Rory earlier, then shrugged. "Just make sure he doesn't get me, okay?"

"No problem," Sam widened his stance.

"Go now," Rory urged.

Lily dashed forward about ten feet in the direction of the Erkling. She grabbed the wand from under the desk, but not without slipping and hitting her head on the desk's underside. Muttering a word she knew she shouldn't say, she scrambled back to her place.

"Okay, guys." Lily used her last stores of Gryffindor bravery. "Ready?"

Rory and Sam nodded.

"One," Rory looked at Sam.

"Two," the two boys said at the same time.

"Three." Lily jumped in on the last one.

Three adolescent voices shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!", and there were three streams of blue light and one target. Coming from the three directions, the Erkling had no time to think, and froze. Literally. He had been hit with a body-binding spell, and was frozen. He hit the floor with a thud.

Lily laughed incredulously, wide eyed. "Oh my gods, we did it!"

"That was _insane_," Sam breathed, a grin spreading over his face.

"Yeah!" Rory high-fived Sam, who was still grinning.

"Good job, team," Sam said jovially.

"We're heroes!" Lily thrust her fist into the air.

"Come on," Sam looked in the direction of the Erkling. "We'd better grab that thing before the spell wears off."

Sam tiptoed across the room and pick the up the stiff Erkling by the ankles. Its was shouting at him was muffled by the fact that its mouth had been closed at the time of the spell, and therefore, was currently stuck shut.

The triumphant trio, however, walked right into Mr. Filch.

He eyes them suspiciously, before saying, "Skipping class, are we? Letting dangerous creatures into the castle? The Headmistress will hear about this!"

And Mr. Filch promptly grabbed Sam by the collar and yanked him down the corridor. He grumbled for Rory and Lily to follow in suit, and Lily, having heard Mr. Filch horror stories from Hermione, Ron, Charlie, Bill, George, and her father, trailed behind without complaint. Rory followed behind as well, looking as though he'd just been told his cat had been run over in an unfortunate biking accident.

Mrs. Norris followed the four, looking as asmug as a cat can. Mr. Filch went on and on about disrespectful, evil students purposely trying to make his job harder. Sam looked terrified, constantly looking back at the other two. Rory shook in his shoes, and Lily felt like she was walking to her own death. She had no idea what would happen to them, only that it wouldn't be good. It didn't matter to McGonagall who the troublemakers were, only that they were punished as fit. She probably would've locked her best friend in the dungeon if she had to.

Mr. Filch at last dropped the three children off at the Headmistress' office, grumbling about having to go do paperwork. He left them worried, confused, and with an evil, petrified midget.

Rory, Sam, and Lily hardly dared breathe a word to one another, and stood in silence for five long, agonizing minutes. Then, slowly, the door opened, revealing a stony faced Headmistress McGonagall. She beckoned them inside, and closed the door.

The trio stood awkwardly in the center of the office, while McGonagall walked back around behind her desk, and sat down.

Then, a miraculous thing happened-she smiled.

"You three have done something incredible today," she said. "And broken about twenty school rules to do so." She noted with a touch of seriousness.

The children still looked horrified, and she continued.

"It has been a long time since Peeves has dared let anything into the castle, and he will be punished for this," McGonagall continued. "But, unfortunately, I must also punish you three. You have skipped class, and used magic outside of instruction, without consulting a teacher. For that, I must take twenty points from Gryffindor."

The trio looked heartbroken.

"But," McGonagall's smile came back slowly. "For your bravery, impeccable use of petrificus totalus, and loyalty to your friend, I award you each ten points."

Rory looked like he'd just been allowed to breathe after an hour of holding his breath. Sam grinned. Lily was utterly shocked, but grateful. The trio high fived and grinned at each other.

"Thank you," Sam said to McGonagall. "But…er, what do we do with this?" He held up the Erkling.

"Give him to me, I'll take care of him," McGonagall said, extending her hand.

"Er, okay," Sam said awkwardly, handing over the stiff Erkling.

"Now, the bell is about to ring, but I believe Professor Slughorn is expecting more Flatroot?" McGonagall said, taking the Erkling. Lily and the boys nodded.

"Go on, then," McGonagall opened her office door, and the three stepped out. They each thanked her.

As she was walking back towards the dungeons, Lily remembered a story that her father told her. When he was a first year, a man named Quirrel had let a troll into the castle. Instead of going up to their tower like they were supposed to, her father and Uncle Ron had slipped off to find Aunt Hermione, even though they weren't particularly friendly with her yet. Aunt Hermione had been stuck in the bathroom with the troll, and her dad and Uncle Ron had saved her, and they had been best friends ever since.

Lily hoped this would happen to her, too.


	7. Chapter 7

Lily sat in the library, her hand cramping from writing a particularly cruel History of Magic essay that had to be at least _three rolls of parchment long_. In Lily's opinion, that was two and a half rolls too many. She sighed, putting down her quill, and rubbing her sore hand. Lily had no idea where Rory and Sam had run off to, so for now, she was alone.

It had been two days since her run-in with the Erkling, and thankfully, the only people that had made a big deal out of it were the kids her Potions class, and, naturally, Cepheus was a right prat about it. Every time he saw them, especially when Lily was around, he made horrified faces and pretended to scream and cower. Then he'd smirk.

Suddenly, there was a clamor behind her, and she whirled around to face her brothers Albus and James, cousin Rose, and Albus's and Rose's best friend, Scorpius Malfoy, the prat's brother. Scorpius was the opposite of Cepheus. Scorpius was nice, funny, and mischievous, something he no doubt picked up from James.

"How ya doin', Lilster?" James grinned, and ruffled his sister's hair.

"Fine," Lily smoothed her locks. "Is Professor Binns always this cruel?" She gestured to her final roll of parchment, which she was halfway finished with.

Rose rolled her eyes. "You know, Lily, he's only doing that so you'll be more prepared for exams."

James grinned again. "Don't listen to her, Lily. Binns is a monster."

Rose smiled and shook her head. "Whatever. We're just dropping in to say hi."

"Actually, we're dropping in so Rose can take out another five hundred books," Scorpius smirked good-naturedly.

Rose went red. "Fine, I'm checking out a book or two."

"Two hundred, that is," Albus whispered to Scorpius, and they burst out laughing. Rose shook her head and smiled again, walking off to find her tomes. With a wave and a wink, the boys followed.

Lily didn't even have time to resume her work on the essay, because Sam came bursting towards her table out of nowhere. Rory was close behind.

He was breathing hard. "Erkling…only…when thing…looked for…" Sam gasped, slamming a huge, dusty book on the table.

"What?" Lily cocked her head, assessing the strange situation.

Rory leaned on his elbows against the table. "Erklings are often sent when someone wants something found," Rory said, breathing hard.

"What does this have to do with anything?" Asked Lily, who was slightly confused and very much annoyed, because she desperately wanted to finish her essay, and the last thing she wanted was to have another distraction.

"Don't you see what this _means_?" Sam said excitedly, his eyes wide. "The Erkling was sent to find something. _Something inside Hogwarts_."

Lily bit back a laugh of disbelief. "You think there's something hidden here? And we're going to go on some great big adventure to find it? Then we're going to be heroes?"

"That's sort of the plan," Rory grinned.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Lily said coldly, turning back to her essay. "But I'm not my father."

"Fine," said Rory stiffly. He and Sam walked off, leaving Lily to stew.

Lily was fighting an internal battle. One part of her resented the fact that her father was famous, because everyone expected her to be a hero, too. All they saw was her last name, they didn't even care about the "Lily" in Lily Potter. Of course, even if people noticed it, all they'd see was a mother who died for her son; another hero. What Lily wanted more than anything was to be normal, have people have the same expectations for her as they had for everybody else, to have that stupid Malfoy boy and his thuggish friends stop being so cruel to her and her friends. She resented her parents' fame. All people ever saw was the last name; all she was, was the daughter of the best chaser the Holyhead Harpies had ever had and the Boy-Who-Lived. If she was going to be famous at all, Lily Potter wanted to make her name famous in her own way, without her parents' help.

But at the same time, she wanted to be just like both her parents. Lily wanted to be a brilliant Chaser, and a hero. She wanted to follow in both her parents' footsteps. She felt it was her duty to live up to the precedent her parents had set. The thing was, she wanted to do it on her own terms. But she wanted to do it, nonetheless.

Lily Potter was utterly conflicted.

She wanted this idea of adventure, but rejected it for two reasons. One: she wasn't her father, and she didn't just go on adventures; these things just didn't happen to her, and she wanted people to stop thinking they did. And two: what in the world could Hogwarts _possibly_ be hiding? Harry had discovered all the school's secrets long ago. There couldn't be anything more to explore.

"_And anyway,_" thought Lily, "_why did the Erkling only come now? If there was something hidden here, why wasn't it sent earlier?_"

About a week after Lily's encounter with Sam and Rory was the first Quidditch game of the season, Ravenclaw versus Slytherin. Throughout the week, the boys had been a slightly annoyed at her immediate shutdown of their plan, though it hadn't really stopped from spending time together. Nevertheless, Rory and Sam often went off by themselves to talk or work or do whatever else it was that boys did.

It'd been particularly wet and rainy on the day of the match, and upon stepping out of the castle to head down to the Quidditch pitch, a third year boy pelted Lily square in the chest with a particularly large clump mud.

"Sorry!" He called. "I was aiming for Cato!"

But that didn't change the fact that Lily was covered in sludge and, being a first year, she had yet to learn the Scourgify spell, which was so coveted by both her mother and grandmother.

So, Lily trudged back up to the Gryffindor tower for a change of clothes, and by the time she had changed and made her way back down the spiraling steps of the tower, the castle was empty. Well, almost empty. As Lily was about to turn the corner to head down the last corridor to get to the Entrance Hall, she heard something rather peculiar.

"We have to get rid of it!" said a hushed voice.

"No! We are under strict orders to keep it locked away," replied a second whisper.

"Horace, you know as well as I do that Peeves didn't let that Erkling into the castle. This is serious, students could get hurt. Those three first years could have _died_!" The first voice retaliated.

Lily held her breath. They were talking about _her_. There _was_ something in the castle that the Erkling was trying to find. She _had_ to tell Rory and Sam; they had been right all along!

Lily rounded the corner in a sprint, and ran straight into Professor Slughorn, who was standing next to McGonagall. Lily realized they must've been the ones talking.

"Sorry, Professor," Lily mumbled, scooting away.

"No harm done!" Professor Slughorn replied jovially, and before Lily could reply, she felt her feet carrying her quickly towards the Quidditch pitch.

Lily hastily made her way down to the stands, her lungs burning. She trekked up to where most of the first years were seated, hoping she would find Rory and Sam. Luckily, her wish was granted. The two boys were laughing at the far end of the section.

Lily skirted through the throngs of students, before reaching the boys with whom she had recently quarreled. When they noticed her presence, they were surprised, but then glared, remembering the argument.

Lily was still breathing hard. "Sorry I didn't believe you earlier," said Lily. "I think you two may be on to something. I just heard Slughorn and McGonagall talking."

Rory and Sam's faces softened a bit, and they were slowly becoming less bristled.

"What'd they say?" asked Sam, who was shifting on the bench to face her.

"Not much," Lily said. "Just something about needing to get rid of something the Erkling was sent to look for."

"Did you hear anything about what the thing might be?" Sam said.

"No, nothing," Lily shook her head.

Sam looked disgruntled for a moment, before Lily spoke up again, her words surprising even her.

"So," she said. "You guys still up for that great big adventure?"

Rory finally gave in, and looked at Lily with his familiar smile. "Are you serious?"

Lily just looked at him, and said, "Go team."

Fifteen minutes later, the trio had managed to get through the mass of people in the stands of the Quidditch match and retreat once more into the castle. Currently, they were situated at one of the many tables in the library, where Madam Pince was their only company, and she was rows and rows of books away.

"So," Lily said, looking at her two friends. "What exactly are we looking for?"

"Well, er, we don't really _know_," said Sam, rather sheepishly.

"Do you even know that there is something that someone wants found?" Lily said this more harshly than she had meant to. "What I mean is," she said more gently. "Do we know that there's anything hidden here?"

"Well, no," answered. "Not for sure."

Lily sighed, annoyed. "What do we know, exactly?"

"We know that Erklings usually are creatures sent by witches and wizards who want to find something." Sam said. "They don't stop until they are either killed or they find what they're looking for. There's more, I just can't remember what it is. Rory, will you pass me the book?"

Rory reached into his cluttered, disorganized schoolbag and pulled out the volume that Sam had been carrying during their last encounter. Sam opened the book and flipped through the pages until he found the one he was looking for.

"_The Erkling is a generally neutral creature, though Dark witches and wizards have been known to persuade them to do the said witch or wizard's bidding. Most often, they are sent to find something and bring it back to their master because of the Erkling's silence and intelligence. Erklings can do magic, such as making themselves or other objects vanish, and they can perform minor curses, jinxes, and hexes. If sent to find a particular object or artifact, the Erkling will do everything in its power to get the job done. There are few ways to stop the Erkling from completing the task: death, a powerful Confundus charm, or an order to stop the search given by he or she who initially assigned the task. Stunning spells and imprisonment or capture will temporarily stop the Erkling, but the spell will wear off and it will find a way out of its capture._" Sam read all this from the fine print of the book.

"Wow," Lily said, eyes wide. "Where did you even find that thing, anyway?"

"In here," Sam shrugged. "I was looking for that book that Professor Binns assigned us to read, and I found this one. I opened it to see if it had anything useful in it, and it turns out it did!"

"I'll say," Rory said. "Blimey, look at this!" He grinned, pointing to a spot in the book, and began to read.

"_Spinderpoofs will typically insert themselves in between the buttocks-_"

"Let's stay on task," Lily smiled nervously.

"Right," Sam grinned. "So, we know that Erklings are basically Dark creatures and that someone wants something found."

"Now, all we have to do is find out what. Should be easy," Rory said sarcastically.

"Anybody have any ideas?" Lily looked at Rory and Sam hopefully. She couldn't ignore the sinking suspicion that she probably hadn't been supposed to enter the room in the empty corridor, and that she definitely hadn't been supposed to find what was in there.

"Maybe it's another Sorcerer's Stone?" Rory suggested. "I mean, your dad did find the original one when he was our age."

Lily ignored the cry of annoyance that was begging to escape her. "Maybe, but I doubt it." Lily said. "The original took forever to make, and I doubt any copy would be as good. And besides, who'd want to steal it, anyway?"

"I dunno," Rory shrugged. "It was just an idea."

"Well…" Lily rested her chin in her hand. "I have no idea. Sam?"

Sam shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "It's probably Dark, because Erklings are Dark creatures, but we knew that already. There's not really much else we know."

Rory rubbed his eyes. "This is wearing my brain out, and I still have piles of homework. Let's take a break."

Lily and Sam agreed, and used the rest of the Quidditch match to do work, because it had started to rain and none of them fancied going back outside.

None of them brought up the topic for the rest of the weekend, but by the time Monday rolled around, the room and the glowing trunk were still floating across Lily's thoughts.

Lily purposefully stayed behind after Transfiguration to talk to Professor Lanset. She figured that if anyone could offer words of wisdom, it'd be the young, funny Quidditch-player-turned-teacher.

After talking herself out of leaving the classroom with the question unanswered for the umpteenth time, Lily figured it was now or never.

"Um…Professor?" Lily looked up from her bag, which she was packing up very, very slowly. "Could I ask you a question?"

"Fire away," Professor Lanset said.

"The other day, I took some directions from Peeves, something I'll never do again because they got me totally lost. Where they got me, though, was in a corridor I've never seen before. I don't know where it was exactly, but it was somewhere I've never been. All the doors were locked except one, which was open, and I went in because I thought it might be the classroom I was looking for," Lily said, fudging the truth on the last part, because she had known it was most certainly not a classroom. "The only thing in the room was a trunk. Something was inside it, I could see light coming from the keyhole. When I stepped inside, the room threw me back to the Entrance Hall."

Lily realized this wasn't a question shortly after she said it, but let it go, her point having been made.

Professor Lanset looked at her curiously for a moment before saying, "This school has many corridors that even teachers have not fully explored. Hogwarts is protected by old Charms and there are quite a few curious things hidden in these walls. I wouldn't worry if I were you; after all, magic will be found in a school of magic."

Lily considered this for a moment, before deciding it made sense. She thanked her professor, and hurried off to her next class.


	8. Chapter 8

As the year progressed, Lily turned out to be almost as bad at Potions as her father, though not quite to that degree, for she still almost always passed her assignments, though sometimes by the skin of her teeth. Professor Slughorn, surprisingly, did not seem to be eating his words on the matter, though. He still treated her as he had on the first day.

That day, they had been wrapping up their study on the cure for boils. The first years were brewing their final potions. Lily looked in her cauldron and frowned. At this point, the directions said, her potion should be green. Instead, it was a violent shade of yellow.

"Rory," she whispered loudly to the boy next to her. "_Rory!_"

"Hm?" He looked up, shaken out of concentration.

"What happened?" She pointed to her potion. "It's supposed to be green."

"Um…" Rory's brow furrowed. "Oh! You forgot to turn the fire down."

"Thanks," Lily whispered. Rory nodded, and went back to his potion. Strangely enough, Potions was the only subject Rory really excelled in. He was all right at everything else, average.

By the end of the period, Lily's potion had gone from the original harsh yellow, to green, to orange, back to green, and then finally to a greenish blue, before Lily decided that was as close as she was going to get. She was sweaty, her brain had virtually turned to mush, and there were two minutes left in the bell. Lily wondered how her aunt had ever enjoyed potions.

A few tables over, Cepheus was staring moodily at his own potion, which was a stubborn purple. Lily secretly delighted in this, though she showed no outward emotion or hint that she even noticed the status of the Slytherin's mixture.

Lily scooped her potion into a crystal phial and carried it up to Slughorn. She cleaned up her mess and packed her bag before helping Duncan Hutchinson clean up his own desk. Duncan's potion had, unfortunately, exploded. Really, it was a mystery to Lily how Duncan always managed to either break something, blow something up, or burn off his eyebrows almost every other period, if not more often.

"Thanks for helping," said Duncan, who was scrubbing out his cauldron.

"No problem," replied Lily, cleaning the last of the mess off the tabletop. "I finished early anyway. I'm not sure if that's a good sign or not." She grinned.

"Ah, I'm sure it'll be okay, as long as yours doesn't explode," Duncan said, wrinkling his nose as though the thought repulsed him.

"I don't know, it'd make for a better presentation," Lily retorted.

"Good point," Duncan raised his eyebrows, which had yet to be burnt off.

Duncan lifted his cauldron up out of the sink (which was only used to clean cauldrons if a potion had gone awry in some way that could damage the cauldron; otherwise, Scourgify was used). It slipped out of his hands and hit the floor with such a loud noise that the entire room jumped.

"Merlin's pants," Rory gasped, when he realized it had only been the cauldron. "That sounded like one of my brothers' homemade stink bombs. I've had enough of those to last a lifetime."

Lily let him pass through the doorway out of the dungeon first, followed by Sam, who was talking animatedly about whatever boys talk about to Duncan and Erich James.

"Brothers?" Lily raised her eyebrows. She hadn't known that Rory had had siblings. "How many do you have?"

"Three." Rory shuddered. "Plus two sisters."

"God, you have _five _brothers and sisters?" Lily's jaw dropped. She knew her mom grew up with more than that, but it still came as a shock to her.

"Yup," said Rory.

"Older or younger?" Lily asked.

"The oldest is my sister Charlotte. She's a sixth year. Then there's Damian, he's a fourth year. And then me. After me, there are the twins, Alfie and Patrick. They'll be here next year. And then the youngest of us all is my sister Maisie, who's a year younger than the twins."

"Wow," said Lily, impressed. "That's awesome."

"The twins are a nightmare," Rory half grinned, half shuddered. "Ever since my dad gave them their first stink bomb three years ago, they haven't stopped obsessing over making the perfect one."

"Ew," Lily said. "That sounds gross."

"Tell me about it," said Rory. "My mom actually smell-proofed their room."

"Smart lady," Lily replied.

"Not smart enough to make them live outside," Rory said, making Lily laugh.

"Hey, Sam!" Rory turned around.

"What's up?" asked Sam.

"Did we have Transfiguration homework?" said Rory.

"No, I don't think so," said Sam.

"No, we didn't," Lily confirmed.

"Good," Rory grinned. "Because I didn't do it."

"You know, mate, you should actually do your homework sometime," Sam smiled. "Then you might not be confused when your homework grade is a zero."

Before Rory could reply with something equally witty, an annoying, cold voice shocked them from behind.

"Even the mudblood is smarter than you are? Wow, Stretton, you've really let yourself go. I mean, I thought you were stupid before, but I stand corrected."

"Oh, bugger off, Cepheus," Rory said, turning slightly pink.

"Go bother someone who cares," said Lily.

"I notice the mudblood hasn't said anything. What, cat got your tongue? Or better yet, did a real wizard hex it out of you?" Cepheus turned to Sam, whose expression had quickly gone from surprise to an air of cool defiance.

"Actually, Cepheus, you'd have to jinx the person, not hex them. And your tongue wouldn't come out, it would just freeze." said Sam. "And while I'm talking, I'd like to tell you to bugger off or else I'm sure Lily would be happy to use the Bat-Bogey Hex."

Cepheus scowled and stalked off.

"You know, Sam…I haven't ever actually used the Bat-Bogey Hex," Lily said.

"Then he'd make an excellent practice dummy," Sam grinned.

"If only," Lily smiled back.

"I swear, he gets stupider every time we see him," said Rory.

"I think it's because his walnut sized brain can only come up with so many insults," said Sam.

"Oh, give him a break," said Lily. The boys looked at her like she'd gone mad. "What? It's not his fault he's a blundering idiot. He can't help it!"

The boys laughed.

"I mean, seriously!" Lily continued. "I feel badly for him, if anything. He's not even worth the effort."

"Maybe a little?" Rory looked hopeful.

"One day," Sam grinned.

The excitement of the holidays blew over Hogwarts, and soon the students had only a week left until break, which quickly wore down into a day. Lily was all packed and ready to go. Rory and Sam were going home for Christmas, too. They all made the ride back to Kings Cross Station, where they exchanged goodbyes to search for their parents. Lily caught side of her parents before her brothers, who were still getting off the train, because their compartment had been near the back.

"Mum!" Lily nearly tackled her mother.

"Lily! Love! Sweetheart, how are you? We missed you so much!" Ginny said, hugging her daughter tightly, never wanting to let her go.

"I'm great, Mum! I missed you a lot," Lily buried her face in her mother's arms, breathing in the familiar smell.

Lily greeted her dad with similar enthusiasm and Albus and James soon escaped the madness of the swelling crowd of parents and children, and the five Potters packed into the car to drive home.

Their stop at home was short, just long enough to let the kids throw some clothes into their school trunks before entering the fireplace and coming out into that of the Burrow, which was already bustling with family.

"Oh, hello dear!" Molly gripped Lily in a hug so tight, she thought her spine might snap in half. "How are you? I want to hear all about school!"

"Maybe later, Grandma," Lily grinned and stepped out of the way to let James tumble out. As she was stepping back, Lily knocked into someone behind her.

Turning around, she saw who it was. "Teddy!" Lily practically tackled the twenty-year-old.

"Hey, Lily!" Teddy laughed. "What's up, my favorite youngest Potter?"

"Nothing," Lily grinned at Teddy. His hair was his trademark turquoise, eyes blue. He had the slightest hint of a turquoise five o'clock shadow.

"Well, that'll all change soon," Teddy grinned. "I'll be surprised if this house doesn't explode with all the people."

And then the cousins arrived, and oh, did they arrive. Victoire leapt giddily into Teddy's arms, smothering each other in a kiss. Dominique and James made faces and laughed. Albus, Lucy, and Fred were working with her grandfather, Arthur, on fixing a Muggle radio, something of a regular activity for him now. Roxanne and James and Dominique were talking Quidditch tactics, while Lily, Rose, Molly, and Louis started a game of exploding snap. George had found a football, and started a game of catch between himself and Hugo.

The adults convened in the kitchen, laughing and talking. The next few days passed by blissfully, full of laughter, warmth, Molly's cooking, and family.

Christmas morning arrived, Lily awoke to the sounds of someone falling down the stairs, then two people laughing. She groggily got up and padded by the sleeping Rose and Dominique. Out on the first floor landing (The three girls had taken over Ginny's old bedroom), Lily saw a confused and disgruntled looking Uncle Ron spread-eagle on the floor, with Uncle George and James laughing hysterically.

"What happened?" Lily stretched her arms.

"Ickle Ronnie had an accident," George choked through his laughter.

James calmed down enough to explain that they had in fact planted a large, but fake, spider on the stairs.

"George, you're such a prat," Uncle Ron muttered.

Lily grinned.

Within the next half hour, the entire family had awoken, mostly thanks to more pranks pulled by James and George, joined by Hugo and Fred. Then the great gift exchange began.

Lily received another sweater from her grandmother, scarlet with a gold "L". She put it on right away. From her grandfather, she had gotten a plain, Muggle rubber duck, which he gave all the grandchildren every year, along with a second rubber duck that Arthur had charmed to poop Wizard Crackers every few minutes. Every one of the grandchildren thought this was hysterical, except for Victoire, who looked repulsed.

"Oh, lighten up, Vic!" Teddy ruffled her hair, and she scowled.

"That's so gross," She said, still eying the duck. "Not to mention immature."

"C'mon, it's funny!" Teddy tossed her a freshly dropped Cracker and she caught it via Quidditch reflexes, and as soon as she did, she scowled again, but opened the Cracker anyway, to find a small, yellow bird that fluttered around before exploding into a shower of pink sparks that formed a heart.

She laughed, rolling her eyes. "Oh, Teddy." She grinned and kissed him on the lips.

Among all the other gifts she received, including a book on animals from Aunt Hermione and one of the famed Pygmy Puffs from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Lily's favorite by far was her gift from Teddy. He'd given her a very old, but very plain key on a thin, gold chain.

"It's vintage," Teddy grinned as she opened it. "I found it and was like, 'Whoa, this is awesome! Who do I know that would appreciate such a fine work of art?' and then I was like, 'Of course, dear Lily would!' And so I got it for you! There are all sorts of old charms on there, it's really cool."

"Teddy, are you sure that's safe?" asked her mother nervously, remembering what had happened to Katie Bell during Harry's fifth year.

"Ah, it's fine, Auntie Ginny," Teddy grinned again. "I had it tested and everything. The charms are just Skeleton Key charms. That's what the key used, after all. A Skeleton Key. The charms have pretty much worn off, though."

"A Skeleton Key?" Hermione's ears perked up. "Wow, Teddy, those are really rare."

Teddy's chest puffed out. "I know. Cool, huh?"

"Aunt Hermione?" Lily asked. "What's a Skeleton Key?"

Hermione's face took on the look that Harry and Ron had been seeing since their first year at Hogwarts. It was the look she got whenever she was about to turn into a human encyclopedia.

"A Skeleton Key is a key that's been charmed to open a specific lock," Hermione explained. "You can charm any key to any lock, and re-charm it as many times as you need. It takes a really powerful wizard to perform that sort of magic, though. It's not easy. Teddy, do you have any idea who did it?"

"Nope!" Teddy shook his head.

"How do I find the lock it opens?" Lily leaned towards Hermione with rapt attention.

"You can't," said Teddy blatantly. "The man at the store said that the lock it belonged to was stolen long ago and probably destroyed. There've been a couple searches for it over the last few decades, but no one's been able to find it. The key's useless without the lock, plus the fact that the magic's starting to wear off, but it's still cool to look at."

Lily considered this. "Yeah," she murmured, fingering the key.


	9. Chapter 9

After Lily arrived back at Hogwarts, she4 dragged Rory and Sam straight to the library. She wasn't particularly fond of the place, but it was the best starting point she could think of.

"Aw, Lily," Rory whined. "Do we have to come back here so soon? I don't want to open a book until I have to." He sniffed. "Plus, this place smells weird."

"Yeah," Sam hopped up onto a table, his feet resting on the seat of a chair. "What _are_ we doing here?"

"Because of this," Lily pulled the key out from under her shirt. She'd been wearing it nonstop, partly because she knew it'd make Teddy happy, partly because she thought it was the coolest thing ever, and partly because she hoped beyond hope that it'd help her in the search for the Erkling's motives.

"What's that?" Rory asked.

"That's not a Skeleton Key, is it?" Sam asked, and Lily nodded. "Blimey, Lily, those are really rare! Where'd you get one?"

"My cousin gave it to me as a gift," Lily replied, deciding the quickest way to explain Teddy was as extended family. "Do you know anything about them?"

"Not really, only that they are charmed to open certain locks," Sam said. "I only read about them a little."

"Well, you're about to read about them a whole lot more." said Lily.

"What's that supposed to mean?" said Rory.

"I think that maybe, whatever that Erkling was looking for, could be related to a Skeleton Key. Probably not this one," said Lily. "Any Skeleton Key, really."

Rory looked skeptical.

"No, she could be right," said Sam. "Whatever it is, it's probably locked away. Skeleton Keys are rare, so it could easily be the thing to open the lock. It makes perfect sense that someone would send an Erkling to find something that hard to find."

Rory placed his chin in his hands. "And how exactly are we going to find this key?"

Lily looked at Sam, hoping he had an idea. She hadn't given much thought to actually finding the key.

"No idea," Sam ran a hand through his already messy hair. It almost always stuck up in the front, and at first Lily had thought he did it on purpose, but then she realized it was just a natural quirk in Sam's hair.

"We're doomed," said Rory.

"We are not _doomed_," Sam rolled his eyes.

Rory didn't reply. He looked weary. "We've barely even started and we've already hit a dead end. We're just going in circles."

"You're the one who wanted to do this anyway!" Lily shot back, sounding harsher than she'd meant to, but she was still annoyed all the same.

"Well, I thought I we'd be somewhere by now!" Rory crossed his arms in front of his chest defiantly.

"Calm down, Rory," said Sam. "Did you think this was going to be done in a day? Because that was unrealistic."

"Well, I was under the impression that we were going to find information that got us somewhere!" Rory said, not calming down.

"We don't even know if whatever we need to find even exists!" Lily threw her hands up in the air, fed up. "We don't have any idea what we're doing, we don't know what we're looking for, and we might never find it! This was _your_ idea, remember?"

"Whatever." Rory didn't look back as he stalked off.

"He'll come around," said Sam, but he sounded as though he was trying to convince himself.

Over the course of the next few days, Lily and Sam spent a good deal of time together, for Rory tended to only spend time with them if required, instead choosing to bide his time with Conrad Weaver. If Rory was anything, he was stubborn, and Lily new from years of experience with stubborn boys that only time would heal the crack in their friendship.

Now, it's not to say that Rory disliked Sam and Lily, or vice versa. And it's not to say that either side was mortally wounded by the argument. Sam had been right, to some degree, much to his relief, along with Lily's. After two days of sulking and doing homework alone, Rory slowly came back to put the trio together again. He began sitting with them during class, during mealtimes, and in the common room. Neither Sam nor Lily nor Rory spoke of the argument, and it was understood between the three of them that all was forgiven.

Potions class was only bearable because Professor Slughorn was the teacher, and lenient as could be. But at least Lily could hold her own (with help from Rory, of course). Duncan Hutchinson couldn't boil water without something going awry.

"Cripes!" Duncan yelped as the sleeve of his robes caught fire. He clumsily began swatting the flame and finally smothered it out after a few failed attempts.

"Hutchinson, what on earth are you doing?" Professor Slughorn said, walking over quickly.

"Nothing, sir," Duncan attempted to hide the singed bit of robe, but Slughorn saw it anyway.

"Hutchinson, did you catch fire again?" said Slughorn.

"Yes, sir," Duncan said sheepishly.

"Really, you must be more careful!"

"I will be, sir."

Lily would have found herself slightly amused by the scene if it wasn't for Cepheus Malfoy smirking at them from across the room. Each table had room enough for four cauldrons, so Cepheus could easily pull faces at Sam, Lily, Rory, and Duncan at the same time.

Lily considered showing Cepheus a rude hand gesture, but she decided against it, not wanting to give him the satisfaction. And besides, she'd learned it when she'd seen James do it, and he'd gotten a lecture from her grandmother, something feared by all who knew Molly Weasley.

Lily turned up her nose, and turned back to her own potion, grinning at Sam from across the table.

"Thinks he's so cool," she said. "Look, he doesn't even notice Gaius nicking his Valerian sprigs!" Lily jerked her head the slightest bit toward the Slytherins. Ever since the beginning of the year, the Gryffindors and the Slytherins had claimed opposite sides of the room, hardly ever sharing workspaces unless it was necessary, such as the day Sam's chair broke, or required.

Sam grinned back. "Now they'll both do it wrong. Cepheus won't have enough Valerian and Gaius'll have too much."

"Why can't they just follow the directions like us?"

"'Cause they're stupid?"

"Nah, I don't think they're stupid."

Sam looked bewildered.

"Are you sticking up for them?"

"No, but they're definitely not stupid. I mean, to be stupid you have to have _some _brain. They have none at all."

Sam grinned at her. "Clever."

"I know." Lily grinned back.

And amazingly enough, Rory, who was possibly the most distractible person on the planet, hadn't even heard a word of this. In Potions, Rory went into the zone, as Lily called it, and was completely oblivious to anything and everything around him. Which was quite lucky, because usually he had the attention span of a fly.

After about a week of researching everything they could find about Skeleton Keys, the trio had all but given up. They'd skimmed all the books about charmed objects in the library, coming up with nothing other than what they already knew. Lily decided it was time to go for some outside help.

"Professor?" Lily stepped into her Transfiguration classroom.

"Lily, come in!" Professor Lanset smiled and beckoned her inside.

"Can I ask you a question?" Lily walked, slightly tentatively, into the room.

"Of course, of course!" Professor Lanset smiled warmly.

"I was wondering if you could tell me anything about Skeleton Keys," Lily said. "I already know the basic things, like how they're charmed and everything. That's not my question. What I want to know is, do we have any locks for a Skeleton Key at Hogwarts?" Lily decided to cut to the chase; she didn't know how else to put her question.

"Lily, why do you want to know that?" Professor Lanset laced her fingers together, peering over them at Lily.

"Just wondering," Lily replied, her cheeks turning slightly red. She hadn't considered the fact that the professor might ask _why_ she was asking such a question, and she inwardly cursed herself.

"Well, in any case, no, Lily," the professor shook her head. "We don't have any Skeleton Keys _or_ Locks here. They were extremely rare to begin with, and Hogwarts never had any use for them. Sorry to disappoint you."

"It's-" Lily began, but was cut off by a rumbling noise coming from Professor Lanset's office.

"That'll be the boggart. Now, it's getting late, you really should be getting up to bed, go on, don't want to get caught, do we?" Professor Lanset ushered her out of the classroom, and shut the door behind her.

"_Well, that was different,_" Lily mused as she made her way back to the common room. It was barely seven at night, curfew wasn't until nine. "_What had her in such a rush? Could it have been about the Skeleton Key? No, couldn't have. Must've been the boggart. But they've never caused Mum that much trouble…_" Lily pondered this all the way up Gryffindor tower. Ultimately she came to the conclusion that the boggart was just a particularly nasty one to make sure the third years had been practicing their spells, and in case it escaped, since Lily had yet to learn the _Riddikulus_ spell, Professor Lanset wanted her out of there.

"Well?" Sam asked as Lily sunk next to him onto the floor by the fire in common room. "How'd it go?"

"It didn't," Lily shook her head. "She said there were never any Skeleton Keys or Locks at Hogwarts because they were really rare and Hogwarts never needed them."

Rory groaned.

"Back to square one." Sam sighed.

"Where do we go from here?" asked Lily.

"No idea," Sam ran a hand through his hair.

After a moment, Lily spoke up again. "I hate to say this, but we're not getting anywhere. We keep figuring out we know absolutely nothing. I mean, when is it time to just throw in the towel?" As soon as Lily said this, she wished she hadn't. The idea of quitting, of truly giving up on something, left an acrid taste in her mouth. She wasn't a quitter, and she wasn't about to become one. And yet, she had just suggested the very idea.

"You want us to _quit_?" Sam's jaw dropped. "So what if we're not going anywhere! You can't quit like that, you can't! It's…it's…" he struggled for the word, but failed to come up with a suitable term.

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm just frustrated. I don't actually want to quit. I just wish we had a lead." Lily sighed.

"Me too," Sam said.

"Me three," Rory chimed in.

"Well, we'd better get one then," said Lily.

"Where? I doubt they have them waiting for us on our beds." Rory smirked.

"Again, no idea," Lily slumped down.

"Wait," Sam sat up straighter. "Wait a second. Why didn't I think of this before! Lily- do you remember that time Peeves sent you down the wrong corridor?"

Lily nodded, sitting up, too. "What about it?"

"Well," Sam began, his green ocean eyes aglow with newfound inspiration. "Do you remember about that trunk?"

Lily nodded, unsure of where this was headed.

"And do you remember what Peeves said about you after you came back from the corridor?"

Lily shook her head. "He sang a stupid song, but I don't remember what he said. Something about 'where it's hidden' and the corridor being 'forbidden'. I just assumed he was messing around with me. You don't think…?"

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there," Sam said with a wave of his hand. "The song, the trunk, it all makes sense. Peeves would only lead you there if he thought it'd get you into trouble. It's forbidden because something about that trunk is dangerous."

Lily nodded for Sam to continue.

"And do you remember what Professor Lanset said when she was coming out of McGonagall's office, and we were waiting to go in?"

Lily shook her head. Rory looked equally confused.

"She said 'Cistas Animarum'." Sam said as though that explained everything.

"Which means?" Rory raised his eyebrows as if to say, 'go on, in English this time.'

"Well, I kept wondering where I'd heard that phrase before," Sam said. "And then I realized: it was on Lily's Chocolate Frog card."

"My…my Chocolate Frog card?" said Lily, trying to make sense of what Sam was saying. The information was coming quickly and seemed half together.

"Yeah, from the train." Sam nodded encouragingly.

Lily scrambled to her feet. "I'll be right back," she said, already running towards the stairs, her vermilion hair flying behind her like a shining fire. Her hands shaking with excitement, she hastily undid the lock on her trunk, and almost tore the lid right off, or so she felt. Lily dug around inside, feeling around socks and old books and letters and broken quills.

"Aha!" Lily said triumphantly, pulling out a small shoebox. Lifting the lid, she revealed her collection of Chocolate Frog cards.

Lily shifted through Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore and Hermione Granger and Harry Potter before seizing the desired card. She slammed the lid back onto the box and tossed it haphazardly back into the trunk.

Lily leapt down the stairs and landed in her spot next to Sam, breathing hard.

"See?" Sam took the card and handed it to Rory.

"I don't understand what this means, though," said Rory, taking the card and looking confused. He examined it, turning the sheet of cardboard over in his hands before handing back the card.

"Cistas Aminarum means Chest of Souls," said Sam. "Professor Lanset is the Guardian of Cistas Aminarum, meaning she's the Guardian of the Chest of Souls. Lily saw a chest up in a forbidden room in a hidden corridor."

"Merlin! So you think that Professor Lanset is guarding this Chest of Souls thing and _that's_ what the Erkling was looking for?" Rory said, sitting on the edge of his seat.

"It makes sense," Sam nodded. "Doesn't it?"

"Too much sense," Lily said. "This is crazy. So Professor Lanset is guarding this thing from inside Hogwarts. I guess we were wrong about it being Dark Magic, though. It must just be pretty powerful."

"_Pretty_ powerful?!" Rory exclaimed. "It's got to be bloody brilliant! It's called the _Chest of Souls_, for Merlin's sake!"

"Who wants it, do you think?" Sam asked, for the first time in this conversation not knowing something.

"I don't know," said Lily. "But whoever it is, they can't be good."


	10. Chapter 10

The next day, Lily was sitting in the library doing her homework while Sam and Rory were tweaking a confetti bomb they'd created, the instructions of which had been found in a stray library book.

"Hey there, little sister," Albus slid into the seat next to her.

"Hey, Al," Lily looked up, glad for an excuse to put her quill down.

"Busy?" Scorpius slid into the seat on her other side.

"It can wait," Lily grinned. "What's up?"

"Well, word on the street is that you've been adventuring," Albus arched his eyebrows, eyes glinting mischievously.

"And we thought," said Scorpius.

"That you'd benefit from," continued Albus.

"_This_!" Scorpius pulled out a swath of silvery, fluid fabric that seemed not quite there but very much present.

"That isn't…?" Lily said, eyeing the fabric.

"Ah, but it is," Albus said, sounding much too old for any just-turned-fourteen-two-weeks-ago-old.

"Indeed," chimed Scorpius.

"_Al_, where did you _get_ this?" asked Lily, running the material through her fingers.

"Nicked it from Dad's office while we were home for Christmas," Albus shrugged.

"You _didn't_!" Lily almost laughed out loud.

Albus rolled his eyes. "Fine, but it would've been a lot cooler if I did. James found it and Dad said he could use it and I talked James into letting me borrow it, but it seems your needs are more of a priority."

"You're right, if you'd nicked it, it'd have made a better story," Lily smirked.

"Shush, you," Albus ruffled her hair.

"Use it wisely, Lily," Scorpius said somberly, trying to hold in defiant giggles.

"And now," Albus stood up.

"We must be off," Scorpius got to his feet.

"Goodbye and farewell."

"Farewell and goodbye."

And the two boys, most unlikely of friends, were off.

Lily stared at the Invisibility Cloak in her hands for a moment longer. Then, she stood up, stuffed her Potions essay into her bag, and streaked out of the library like her hair was on fire. And if one hadn't been looking closely, it would indeed appear to be aflame, for all the color red in the world must have gone into creating the Weasley shade of gingery hair.

"You two will never believe what I have," Lily plopped down beside Rory and Sam, who were still working intently on their confetti bomb. By this time, it was so covered in Spell-O Tape that Lily doubted it'd even explode; all the tape would hold it completely intact, it seemed.

"Enlighten us," Sam grinned, looking up at Lily from the tape and paper mass.

Lily pulled the Invisibility Cloak out of her bag with a flourish.

"My father's Cloak of Invisibility! The one and only," She grinned.

"Blimey!" said Rory. "That's brilliant! Where'd you get it?"

"Albus," said Lily, grinning.

"Well, thank Merlin for him," Sam said, half sarcastic, half serious. "It's great we have this, but what exactly are we going to do with it?"

Lily rolled her eyes, wondering how someone who'd practically

uncovered the entire mystery could be so thick. "Does anything about a hidden trunk and a forbidden corridor strike a thought?"

"You want us to go _in_ there?" Rory said, his face losing its color and growing

wan.

"Why not?" Lily said, growing excited. "I mean, there's no one to stop us!"

"Yeah, but-but what if we get caught? What if we die? No, this is too risky." Rory stuttered, blatantly terrified.

"Oh, don't be such a baby, Rory," said Sam. "Toughen up! We're Gryffindors, after all! We weren't put in the house of the brave for nothing!"

"Yeah, Rory," Lily smirked, punching his arm. "Are you scared?"

"Who me?" Rory puffed his chest out. "Nah. Never. C'mon, I say we go right now!" He stood up.

"What? No!" Lily shook her head. "We can't, it'd be too risky."

"She's right, mate," Sam agreed. "We have to plan."

"And we'd have to go at night." said Lily.

"How come?" asked Sam.

"Because that way, we won't run into anybody. The corridors will be clear, and nobody will notice we've slipped away from our beds."

"Good point," Sam flexed his wrists, pondering.

"How do we know this will work, anyway?" Rory prompted. "The last time, and may I remind you, the _only_ time Lily went in there, she got tossed out."

"We _don't_ know if it'll work, but at least we get a chance to see for ourselves without getting caught," Lily said. "We'll never know if we don't try."

"So we're actually doing this," said Rory. This was a statement, not a question.

"Of course we are, mate," said Sam. "If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a mystery begging to be solved and no one solving it."

That night, Lily crept down the stairs as quietly as she could. It was late, later than anyone should be up, but she didn't care. She was finally living up to her Potter name, the Marauder way. Like her father and paternal grandfather and uncle and even her mother, Lily was sneaking out, going on secret adventures, the sharp sting of trouble pining away behind her. And Lily loved it. She loved the way her heart beat harder in her chest and the way her insides quivered with excitement.

Lily caught sight of Rory and Sam standing by the fire, their backs turned to her. She crept up silently behind them, pulling on the Invisibility Cloak.

When she was right behind the boys, she whispered, "Boo."

"Merlin's Pants!" Sam gasped. "You scared the mickey out of me!"

Lily laughed as she pulled the cloak off. "Sorry, couldn't resist."

"Clearly," said Rory. "I almost had a _heart attack_."

"Oh, you did not," said Lily. "Quit whining. You ready?"

Sam and Rory nodded. Lily threw the Invisibility Cloak over the three of them; it was plenty big enough to fit three eleven-year-old children underneath. They crept quietly through the porthole to the corridor, tiptoeing and holding their breath. No one was coming, and they continued on.

Rory, Sam, and Lily passed through corridors and hallways before they were interrupted by something just outside the prefects bathroom. And that something was Mrs. Norris, Mr. Filch's mangy old cat that Lily swore had a sixth sense of knowing who was causing trouble and where they were in the castle.

Unfortunately, for however careful the trio was being, Sam saw Mrs. Norris a little too late, just after the bottom of his shoe became acquainted with her tail.

The cat yelped, hissed, scratched the air, and then streaked off to find Mr. Filch.

"Bugger!" Sam whispered, frantic. "Bugger, bugger, _bugger_!"

"Oh God, we're gonna die, oh God," Rory said, hyperventilating.

"Dear Merlin, help me," Lily muttered. "Come on." Lily grabbed the boys' wrists and dragged them down the corridor as quickly as she could. They caught on and three broke into a run, clutching the sides of the billowing Invisibility Cloak so it wouldn't fly off.

Where Lily was leading them, she didn't know, and she figured she didn't really have time to find out. She ran blindly through hallways and passageways, half-sure she was running in the right direction. She stopped only when she was confident that Mr. Filch hadn't followed them and the ache in her chest became unbearable.

Lily leaned against the wall, gulping air. Rory was bent over with his hands on his knees, gasping for breath. Sam was breathing hard, but he was upright and looking around.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"No idea," Lily shook her head. "You two were having conniptions so I didn't have time to decide where to go."

Lily craned her neck to see the ceiling. The ceiling of the castle depended on where you where and often varied from corridor to corridor and classroom to classroom. The ceiling of this corridor was regular, boring old stone. Nothing useful to help her distinguish it from the next.

Size-wise, it was long, with classrooms on one side and portraits on the other. Lily remembered her cousin Rose saying how she had whole conversations with portraits. She squared her shoulders and walked over to the nearest painting, which was a depiction of a young man and his dog.

"Hello, sir," Lily began awkwardly.

"Hi there," said the man. "The name's Charles. This is my dog. I call him Tucker. Want to see Tucker do a trick?"

"Erm, I actually have to ask you a question," Lily's brow furrowed and she wrung her hands together.

"Oh, okay," Charles looked crestfallen. "Ask away, then."

"Where are we?" asked Lily.

Charles put his hands on his hips importantly. "We are in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

"Where in Hogwarts, I mean." Lily corrected herself. She couldn't shake the feeling that she and the boys had limited time and that it was quickly running out.

"Oh, that's easy! You're in the west wing, just a few floors above the infirmary!"

"Do you know how to get to a corridor that has lots of doors on both sides and most of them are locked, and one has a trunk in it that glows?" Lily was aware that she was being incredibly vague and that she sounded utterly ridiculous, but it was the best explanation she had.

"Does it have an old staircase at the end of it?" asked Charles.

"Yeah," said Lily, excitement blooming in her chest.

"Sure, I know where that is! Go down this corridor, take a right, then a left, then go up the stairs, take another left, go up some more stairs, take a right, two more lefts, and there you are!" said Charles proudly.

"Wait so…a right, a left, stairs, a left, stairs, a right, and two more lefts?" Lily mentally checked off the directions.

"Right-o. Except don't go in there!" Charles called after Lily as she started to walk away.

"Okay," Lily called back, telling herself it wasn't a lie because she didn't say directly that she wouldn't go into the corridor.

Lily grabbed the cloak and nodded to Rory and Sam, who'd heard the conversation. Once more, the trio converged underneath the silvery fabric worn with adventure and traipsed down the hallway, carefully following Charles' the painting's directions. The stairs were wooden and rickety and covered in dust. They looked as though they hadn't been used in years. They creaked and Rory cringed with every step, sneezing as dust flew through the air.

As Lily stepped into the entrance of the corridor, she froze. Her ears strained to pick up a bit of noise, but they found none. Hesitantly, she pulled off the cloak.

"Stay close together," she whispered to the boys. "Just in case we have to put this thing on in a hurry. Also, stay quiet."

"You're the one talking," Sam smirked. Lily smacked him upside the head, but didn't say anything.

Rory, Sam, and Lily crept down the hallway silently. Lily watched for the faint glow of the chest through the cracks between doors and floor. She found no such thing. The three patrolled the corridor once, twice, three times.

"It's here, I know it is," Lily tried to sound confident, but she was growing more and more doubtful. The door had been towards the staircase at the end of the corridor, fourth or fifth down. Lily pulled out her wand and tapped the lock of the door five down from the stairs.

"_Alohomora_," she said, and the door swung open to reveal a broom cupboard. Lily shut it again. She repeated this with the next couple of doors, all holding broom cupboards and dusty old classrooms.

Lily put her face in her hands. "I don't get it. It was here, I swear."

"Lily, we believe you," said Sam. "But are you sure it was this hallway?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Positive."

"Well, this is unfortunate," Rory frowned.

"I'm too tired to even deal with this." Lily rubbed her eyes. "We've been running about like mad men for hours and we have school tomorrow. Let's just get some sleep. My brain is foggy."

"Cheers to that," Sam muttered, yawning.

The three climbed back under the Invisibility Cloak, and crept back to the common room undisturbed.

The next morning, the first years were excused from Potions because Professor Slughorn was sick and there was no one to substitute on such short notice. So Rory, Sam, and Lily, along with the rest of the first years, clambered back up to the common room.

The first thing Lily did was seek out James. She was aware that he had a free period this morning and was going to interrogate him about every corridor in Hogwarts if she had to.

Finally, Lily found James in the corner of the common room, talking animatedly to Dominique, their cousin. The two had been best friends for ages, inseparable, and born exactly six months apart.

Lily put her hands on her hips, and said in a voice that sounded so much like her mother it was scary, "James Sirius Potter!"

James froze in a deer in headlights look of shock. "Lily! Merlin's pants, kid, I almost _peed_!"

Dominique rolled her eyes as Lily plopped down next to them.

"James?" Lily asked.

"Huh?" James gave her his full attention. After all, it wasn't every day your little sister whose personality and independence burned brighter and hotter than fire came to you for help.

"Do you really know every secret corridor in the castle?"

"Backwards, forwards, in my sleep, you name it, and I could give you a full tour."

"What about a forbidden corridor?"

"Is this about that thing Al was talking about when he wanted to give you the Invisibility Cloak?"

Lily nodded.

James pretended to wipe away a tear of joy. "Lily, young Lily, you're learning so fast! Breaking rules halfway through your first year, you're a much better apprentice than Al!"

"So? About the corridor?"

"Right. So there's just the one this year, the one with all the doors, all locked. This is the one you're talking about?"

"Yeah." Lily said, amazed James actually knew all the passages. Her brother was amazing, he was. "How did you…?"

"I have my ways." James raised his eyebrows, eyes glinting.

"How do you get there?"

"That is a different matter. You-" but just then, James was cut off by Fred, who was shouting at him from across the room. He had something stuck in his hair, the result of one of James's many "experiments", which were, in all honesty, pranks. James ran over to help Fred out of his predicament.

Lily sighed. There was no way she was going to figure this out.

"Hey, Lily?" said Dominique.

"What?" Lily asked, looking up.

"I think it's time you took a trip to the Headmaster's office," replied Dominique, getting up.

"What? Why?" said Lily.

But all Dominique said was, "She likes Drooble's Best Blowing Gum." Then, she winked and walked away, her long blonde hair swishing behind her as she followed James.

And all of the sudden, it clicked. If there was one person who knew how to help her, he would be in McGonagall's office. And she had to go there. Tonight.

"_Well_," Lily thought. "_Looks like another late night_."

When Lily got the Invisibility Cloak this time, however, she was going alone. She felt like this was something she had to do by herself, no Sam or Rory. It was well past midnight when Lily crept out of the dorm, clad in pajamas and the cloak. She made the short trip down the corridor and to the next where at the end, the Headmaster's office lay, guarded by two stone gargoyles.

"Drooble's," Lily whispered. "Drooble's Best Blowing Gum."

The gargoyles jumped out of the way and the door slid open. Lily stepped inside. The lights were off and the tendrils of a fire crackled in the fireplace, nothing more than glowing embers looking like tiny hearts pulsating in the dim. Lily turned to the wall of portraits, immediately finding the one she was looking for, for the painting was surrounded in an ornate gold picture frame. Its occupant was fast asleep. Lily pulled off the cloak.

"Mr. Dumbledore, sir?" Lily whispered hesitantly. "Mr. Dumbledore, sir, wake up."

Dumbledore stirred in his frame before blearily opening his eyes.

"Who is it? Who's awake at this hour? Minerva?" Dumbledore asked, looking around for a sign of life, before his eyes landed on Lily. "Ah, I was wondering when you'd be visiting me."

"You know me, sir?" Lily asked, wide eyed.

"No, no, of course not," Dumbledore assured her. "But it is not hard to see that you are your mother's daughter. You're her-"

"Spitting image," Lily finished before she could help herself.

"Precisely," Dumbedore smiled, unfazed. "Without the freckles. But no matter, you still look just like her. Now, what have you come for, Lily?"

"Well, sir, I was hoping you could help me with something," Lily said.

"Perhaps," he said. "Continue."

"You see, sir," said Lily, crossing her fingers that Dumbledore would could help, "there is a corridor that has many, many doors."

"Hogwarts has lots of doors and plenty of corridors. I'm afraid I must ask you to elaborate," Dumbledore said patiently.

"In this particular corridor, most of the doors are locked, but all they contain are classrooms and broom closets. Except for one, you see. Behind one door, there is a trunk. I believe it is the Cistas Animarum."

"You would be correct," Dumbledore said kindly, his expression unreadable.

"Sir, I believe someone is trying to steal it," Lily said, a small knot of frustration at his ease and calmness tightening in her chest. He was supposed to be a genius, after all! This was the man her brother was named for! He should be smart enough to be at least a _little_ worried. Right?

"That is very possible," Dumbledore replied indifferently, his eyes twinkling. "However, I sense that is not the only thing troubling you."

"No, sir. I have two more questions," said Lily. This man was good.

"By all means, ask away!" Dumbledore encouraged.

"I was wondering if this may have anything to do with a Skeleton Key?" Lily asked. She knew she had already asked Professor Lanset, but she wanted Dumbledore's opinion, as well.

"Well, that _would_ be interesting, wouldn't it now?" Dumbledore replied happily. "Your next query?"

"When I went to show my two friends, Rory and Sam, the room, it was gone. It wasn't there."

"If you are wondering if it was the Room of Requirement, it is not." said Dumbledore. Lily had wondered briefly if it had been the Room of Requirement, but she knew she wasn't in the right part of the castle for it. "You see, the Chest of Souls can only be found when it wants to be found. If it doesn't want to be seen, it will disappear. It will not go anywhere else, it just turns into the atmosphere. When it reappears, it will be just as it was last left."

"I see, sir," replied Lily, still making sense of what she'd heard. "Will I be able to find it again, sir?"

"Perhaps," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling again. "You may look like your mother, but your curiosity rivals that of your father's."

Lily smiled, unsure of how to respond. Finally, she said, "Thank you, sir." Lily hesitated for a moment before asking, "Does the chest really have souls in it?"

"Just because you do not see something, Lily, does by no means mean it is not real. Seeing is not essential to believing." Dumbledore replied.

"I see, sir," Lily said, not seeing what Dumbledore meant at all.

"You will one day, Lily," said Dumbledore.

"I hope to, sir," Lily picked up the cloak. "I appreciate your help, but it's late and I must be going. Goodnight, Mr. Dumbledore."

"Goodnight, Lily."

As Lily turned to leave, Dumbledore said one more thing: "You do not have to go looking for trouble, Lily. It will soon enough find you. As will your destiny. For I know you yearn to forge your own path, but do not fret over this. I have had my hunch for a while now, but talking to you, I see that you will achieve this goal. And please, call me Albus. I am no longer Headmaster here."

"Thank you…Albus," Lily said awkwardly, turning and smiling at the portrait, but Dumbledore was already fast asleep.

Lily slipped the cloak back on, once more passing through the doorway like so many others, including her mother, father, grandfather-well, most of her relatives, really. Her brothers included.

Lily replayed her conversation with the former Headmaster in her head. He had been much more straightforward with her than she'd heard he'd be.

"_Perhaps_," Lily thought, "_he realized the urgency to live during life now that he's dead. Or maybe he just wanted to tell me something. I bet he gets tired of watching people try to figure out his puzzles. Too bad James isn't the same way_." Lily smirked, thinking of her obnoxious, hilarious, charismatic eldest brother.

Lily realized that Dumbledore really actually hadn't answered any of her questions, and when he had, they were always indefinite answers. Maybe, Lily realized, that he wasn't so straightforward with her, after all.

She now knew one thing for sure, however. And that was that the Cistas Aminarum really _did_ exist. And that it was inside Hogwarts.

How to find it, however, was an entirely different matter. One that Lily would deal with in the morning, Lily decided, for it was late and her thoughts were becoming more constantly peppered with yawns.

Mere meters away from the painting of the Fat Lady, however, Lily was stopped in her tracks.

"Hagrid, what did you do with it? Where _is_ it?" Professor Lanset whispered loudly, angrily.

"I hones'ly have no idea what yer talkin' about," said Hagrid, trying to remain quiet, but his voice was almost as big as he was.

"Don't play dumb with me, Hagrid! You _stole_ it, I _know_ you did!" Professor Lanset's temper was rising steadily. Lily's breath caught in her throat.

"Stole what? What would you have that I'd want ter steal?" Hagrid replied.

"You know what!" Professor Lanset spat.

"No, I don't. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have ter go an' feed my, er, cat," Hagrid said, pushing past her.

"I'm keeping my eye on you! If you try anything funny, I'll _know_," Professor Lanset warned, sounding very much like Lily at age five when James would be the opposite of innocent and she didn't know where he had set up his next prank.

"Yeah, yeah," Hagrid muttered, moving further down the corridor like a thick shadow, slipping among the inky outlines.

Professor Lanset stalked off down the corridor in the opposite direction, muttering to herself under her breath. Once out of sight, Lily hurried into the common room after whispering the password, "acromantula". She let out her breath, marveling over what she had just heard.

She knew Hagrid had been falsely accused before, but how many times could a person be falsely accused of something? What if he really did have something to do with this? Could it be possible that he didn't know what he was doing was wrong? Was he the one who had sent the Erkling?

No, it couldn't be! Could it?

Lily shook her head. It was much too late for this; she couldn't be thinking straight. Lily needed sleep, that's what she needed. A nice, long sleep.

So Lily trudged up the stairs and fell into bed after dropping the Invisibility Cloak into her trunk and kicking off her shoes. Her pajamas were slightly dirty from her excursion, but Lily didn't care. She was too tired.

And so she fell asleep, her dreams littered with talking portraits and Drooble's gum and cats with Hagrid's heads, making them look like freakish sphinxes.


	11. Chapter 11

It was the next day that Lily decided to meet Hagrid for tea, Sam and Rory, too, of course. The three occasionally went down to his hut to say hello and have tea and rock cakes, so this was not out of the ordinary.

Lily's heart beat quickly in her chest as Hagrid handed her a bucket-sized cup of tea. She was seated in between Rory and Sam on one of Hagrid's monstrously sized chairs.

"Hagrid," Lily forced herself to say. "Any new pets lately?"

"Er," Hagrid looked nervous. "No, none at all."

"I heard you got a cat," Lily said, knowing as soon as she said that it was a mistake because it would almost certainly give away the fact that she had overheard him the night before.

"Where'd you hear tha'?" asked Hagrid.

"Oh, Hagrid," Lily said, the guilt of it bearing down on her. "I'm so sorry. I heard you and Professor Lanset talking and I-I-"

Hagrid began to laugh. Lily looked up at him with remorse shining in her eyes. "Don' be sorry about tha'! Yer dad did a hell of a lot worse snoopin' around the castle during his time at school! You want ter meet my new cat? I call 'im Kitty."

Hagrid walked over the back of his hut to a large pile of blankets. Fang was sleeping beside it, along with Hagrid's new pup and Fang's offspring, Shadow.

Hagrid poked around in the folds before a massive scaly tail whipped out and smashed into the fireplace.

Rory paled, Sam yelped, and Lily squeaked.

"_Kitty_?" Sam gasped. "_That's Kitty?_"

"Yep!" said Hagrid proudly.

A lion's face peered out from underneath the blankets and Lily squeaked again, scooting back in the chair.

"He's a chimera, he is! Been wantin' one since yer parents were in school!" Harry said affectionately, patting the mass of cloth.

"A-a _chimera_?" Sam coughed, choking on his sip of tea. "You have a chimera in your hut?"

"Sure, I do!" Hagrid grinned.

"But they're really dangerous," Sam eyed the creature warily.

"Dangerous! Dangerous, he says!" Hagrid laughed. "Kitty's not dangerous, are ya, fella? Dangerous! Bollocks! He's not dangerous, chimeras are misunderstood creatures." Hagrid said affectionately.

Rory swallowed shakily. "Misunderstood. Right. It didn't just attempt to demolish your fireplace or anything."

"That reminds me," said Hagrid. "I'd really appreciate if you kids didn' mention this ter anyone. I'm er, not technically _supposed_ ter have a chimera."

Rory gaped. "You're keeping it here _illegally?_"

"Well, I'd prefer not to use the word illegal," Hagrid wrung his hands together nervously. "But yeah. So don' you three go talkin' 'bout this to anyone! I shouldn' a shown ya, I jus' was so excited…" Hagrid trailed off, looking wistfully at his new pet. "I feel like I'm back talkin' to yer dad and Ron and Hermione, Lily. Hard to think that they now have kids o' there own and I'm teachin' em!"

Lily smiled awkwardly, but inside she was cringing. Must everyone always compare her with her parents?

Sam caught the flare in Lily's face and stepped in. Sam was unusually perceptive for his age, and Lily had realized that early on.

"But we're different than our parents, aren't we? Totally different people," said Sam, glancing at Lily, who gave an appreciative upward twitch of the lips.

"Of course yeh are! I remember yer father," Hagrid nodded to Lily, "he was so fulla angst as a boy. Yer mother, she was a different story, firecracker, they said. I bet yeh've got that firecracker spirit in yeh, eh? But no one's totally like their parents, yeh've yer own talents, don't forget."

Lily nodded, smiling, her cheeks a bit red.

"An' you, Sam! Yer parents are Muggles, for Merlin's sake! Yer nothin' like them in tha' respect. I dunno about others, never met em." Hagrid said, and Sam grinned. "Rory, I remember yer mum and dad well! Yer mum was the best in her Care of Magical Creatures class, she was! Kind, very kind. Except for the odd time she threw a book at yer father, but it was all in jest. Sort of. And yer father, he was very funny, hilarious." Rory grinned as Sam had, and Lily smiled again.

Lily was thankful Hagrid had given them this talk. She genuinely loved Hagrid and loved his wise moments, which often came in the most unexpected of times. He was sort of like the quirky uncle that came around randomly, bearing cool stories and doing reckless things. Except for Lily's Uncle Charlie took care of that, but Hagrid was still like an uncle, all the same.

"So about this chimera…" Rory's eyes flitted over the mishmash hybrid animal, which had gone back to sleep. It rolled over, the top blanket falling off, and Lily saw just how strange looking it really was.

The chimera had the body of a goat, the tail of a dragon, and the head of a lion. It looked like an unfortunate transfiguration accident, or a creature Luna had discovered.

"How big is he going to get?" asked Lily.

"Oh, I'd say at least two or three times as big as Fang," Hagrid shrugged.

All three of the children's jaws dropped. Fang was huge as it was, coming up past Lily's waist.

"Are you going to even be able to fit him into your hut?" said Sam.

"I dunno," Hagrid shrugged again. "Maybe. We'll have to see what happens, I s'pose."

As the three walked back to the castle later that day, the topic of chimeras still hung in the air.

"Chimeras! I mean honestly!" said Rory. "We could _die_."

"We aren't going to die, you numbskull," Sam hit Rory playfully over the head, receiving a shove in return.

"We could! Didn't you see what it tried to do to Hagrid's fireplace?" Rory stressed.

"Yeah, but no one was hurt," Sam said.

"Actually, Rory's right," Lily said. "For once." She added for good measure, smirking at Rory. "It isn't safe for Kitty here. Nor us, but if one of us is hurt, something really serious could happen to him. My dad told me about this hippogriff named Buckbeak once, and he just scratched a kid and was sent to death. They got him away though, my dad and aunt did, so it's okay, he ended up living. But we may not get that lucky, and chimeras are a lot more dangerous than hippogriffs."

Sam considered this. "Yeah, but it's so _cool_ though. Do you really think somebody could die?"

"They could," Lily nodded. "Hagrid's sort of famous in my family for keeping deadly pets. When my dad was a kid, he had a dragon, a hippogriff, Blast-Ended Skrewts, and a giant. Well, the giant was actually his brother, but he was still dangerous."

"Blimey," said Rory, awed. "That's a lot of pets. He should run a zoo."

"That's why he's the Care of Magical Creatures teacher," said Sam. "I guess he just likes his creatures a bit too much. So what are we going to do?"

"What _can_ we do?" asked Lily.

"I don't know," Rory shrugged, turning to Sam, who said the same thing.

"Hagrid would be heartbroken if Kitty went away, you saw the way he coddled the thing," said Lily.

"I wish we could let him keep it," sighed Sam wistfully, probably imagining all the grand adventures he and Kitty would take.

"I think you're in love, Sam," Lily grinned. Sam stuck his tongue out at her, and she laughed.

"We can't any of the teachers or other kids, we told Hagrid we wouldn't," pointed out Rory. "And he'd get in trouble."

"So what can we do?" repeated Sam.

And then, Lily remembered something. "I think I've got an idea. I'll see you two later."

She ran off, leaving Rory and Sam with confused expressions, wondering where in the world she was running off.

Lily skidded into the entrance hall, kicking snow off her shoes, before running to the library. She was hoping he'd be in there.

Lysander Scamander was a Ravenclaw, which meant that even if she knew where his common room was, Lily couldn't get in because she'd have to answer a riddle. It was the only common room not to have a password, making things either easier or harder, depending on how you looked at it.

Lily darted through rows of books and scrolls, scanning for Lysander. She'd known Lysander for years now. They'd always been pretty good friends, not best friends, but pretty good friends. He had a twin brother named Lorcan, but he was a Gryffindor.

Lysander and Lorcan were a year ahead of Lily, so when the time came for them to start school, Lily and Lysander didn't spend as much time together. They wrote to each other occasionally and always had fun when the families got together, but Lysander had his own friends and now Lily had hers.

Finally, Lily found the mop of dirty blonde hair at a table with a few other boys, scampered over, and sat down.

"Hey, Lysander," said Lily, throwing him a half smile.

"Hi, Lily," Lysander returned the gesture.

There were three other boys at the table. The first boy had dark hair and blue-grey eyes. The second was strawberry blonde with bright blue eyes, and he looked shy, with rosy cheeks and a quiet sort of smile. The third was blonde with brown eyes and he looked friendly, a kind smile tossing the corners of his lips upward.

"Henry, Liam, and Frank," Lysander nodded to each boy as he said their respective names.

"I know Frank," Lily grinned. "Remember?"

Frank was Professor Longbottom's son, and his family was invited, as well as the Scamander family, to all of the Weasley-Potter parties and get-togethers.

"Sorry, forgot." Lysander grinned. "So, what's up Lily?" He said, turning back to the redhead.

"I have to ask you a favor," Lily blushed a bit, feeling slightly out of place amongst the four boys, three of whom she didn't know. Two, technically, but she was never very close with Frank. Frank tended to hang out with Hugo during their reunions.

"What?" asked Lysander.

"Can I ask you…privately?" Lily settled on the word for lack of a better one.

"Er…okay," Lysander said awkwardly, nervously. He looked slightly uncomfortable, his cheeks turning pink.

"I'll be right back," he said to his friends, who grinned, nodded, and began a game of Exploding Snap.

Lily led Lysander to a more secluded corner of the library.

"What do you want to ask me?" Lysander said, his eyebrows twitching together.

"You have to promise to keep this a secret," said Lily. "Only two other kids know about it and I'm not supposed to tell anyone, so please keep it quiet."

"Okay," Lysander said. "As much of a secret as the time we accidentally got James stuck in that tree?" Lysander said, presumably to lighten the mood.

"More of a secret," said Lily, who gave another half-smile, for she still hadn't told anyone about that and as far as she knew, neither had Lysander. "You know Hagrid?"

"What about him?" asked Lysander, leaning against the bookshelf.

"Hesortofhasachimerainhishous e," Lily said all in one breath, looking apprehensively up at Lysander, who stood an inch or two above her.

"Whoa," said Lysander, his eyebrows lifting.

"Yeah," Lily said. "I know. I was wondering if your dad still wanted a chimera for his expedition?"

Rolf Scamander was known to go on expeditions all over the world back when he was young. Now that he had settled down and had a wife, Luna, and two sons, he didn't go on as many. But once a year, he and his old exploring friends went out on a three-week expedition somewhere exotic and foreign. This year, Rolf had been looking for a chimera to take with him because this year's trip would lead him to Tibet, and chimeras, when well trained, could fend off the dwarf dragons that dwelled in the mountains. Chimeras were fiercely loyal if they developed a bond with something, even a human, so naturally, they were explorers' first choice for expeditions, what with chimeras being loyal, strong, and powerful.

"I don't know, maybe." said Lysander. "I could owl him tonight?"

"Oh, would you? Lily's shoulders relaxed; they'd been tense, awaiting his answer. "Thank you!"

"Yeah, no problem," Lysander smiled shyly, shrugging just the tiniest bit. "I should get back to the guys, they're probably getting themselves into trouble, and if they are, I want in on it. It was cool talking to you, though. We haven't seen each other in while, eh?"

"It's been too long," Lily grinned. "See you around, Lysander."

"I'll get back to you as soon as my dad answers," Lysander grinned back, waving and walking back toward Henry, Liam, and Frank while Lily walked the opposite way to the door leading out of the library.

As Lily exited the library and began walking down the corridor, it occurred to her that she didn't know where exactly she was walking because she didn't know where exactly Rory and Sam were. Deciding not to over think the subject, Lily took the easiest route, which led to the common room, where they might be reworking that confetti bomb that had earlier failed.

After a few minutes of walking, a small, shrewd boy came walking angrily around the corner, grey eyes steely, and his usually slicked back hair disheveled.

"Out of my way, Potter," Cepheus Malfoy growled, making to shove Lily,

"What, forget my first name, _Cepheus_?" Lily shot back, blocking his path.

"Potter, I'm warning you." Cepheus said, one fist clenched, the other brandishing his wand.

"_You're _warning _me_?" Lily scoffed, not really sure whether or not she thought she could take Cepheus, but it was worth a go.

"Don't push me," Cepheus snarled, face turning red, fingers wound so tightly his knuckles were turning white.

"I'd challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see you are unarmed," Lily stuck her nose in the air, using a line she'd heard Rose say to Scorpius, and attempting to walk past.

"You're lucky you're a girl, or else I'd hit you so hard, you couldn't tell your left hand from your right. But I don't hit girls." Cepheus said, sounding ridiculously superior, like he thought he was better than Lily. Bad choice.

"Really? Because I do." Lily shoved him against the wall, pinning him there with her shoulder, a move she was all too familiar with, thanks to James.

"Let me down, you stupid half-blood!" Cepheus squirmed, but Lily's years of fending off Fred and James and even occasionally Al gave her a firm hold on him.

"Is that the best you've got?" Lily taunted, not caring nor acknowledging the consequences.

"You think you're so honorable," Cepheus sneered, still pressed against the rough stone of the wall.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" a voice from behind Lily said.

Surprised, Lily jumped, releasing Cepheus from the hold she had on him. Lily turned around to see the face of Professor Lanset, a brief smile crossing the adult's lips before turning serious, eyes still twinkling.

"Fighting in the corridor?" said Professor Lanset, placing her hands on her hips, much the way Lily's mother and grandmother tended to do. "Lily, you should know better than that. What's going on here?"

"Professor, I was just walking by, and she _attacked_ me!" gasped Cepheus.

"What? I did _not_-" Lily was cut off.

"If I remember correctly, which I do, it seemed as though Mr. Malfoy was the victim, Ms. Potter," said Professor Lanset. Lily wondered when her professor had decided to start using formalities. "Did you or did you not attack him?"

"I wouldn't say _attack_-"

"Answer the question."

"Yes."

Professor Lanset sighed. "_Why_?"

"He started it, Professor!" Lily protested, her cheeks growing warm. "He insulted me and pulled his wand out!"

"But did you have to hold him against a wall? Why didn't you just walk away?" asked Professor Lanset, sounding weary.

Lily had no answer for this.

"Ms. Potter, you will serve detention this Saturday afternoon at one o'clock. Mr. Malfoy, I'm giving you a warning. Pull out that wand outside of class one more time, and you'll be serving a double detention with Filch. Understand?"

Cepheus smirked at Lily, an action gone unseen by Professor Lanset, for she had her back turned to him. Lily seethed, her tongue venomous, but forced to remain caged, for the price of freeing her dragon-tongue would only assume to more detentions. But oh, once she learned the Bat Bogey Hex, Cepheus would be begging her for mercy.

"Yes," Lily mumbled, hot tears stinging her eyes. It wasn't _fair_. Cepheus should've been the one to get in trouble. Lily was only protecting herself. Self-defense, right? After all, Lily had heard about the nasty curses the Slytherins picked up. Of course, not all Slytherins were bad; Lily had met a few very nice Slytherins. But only a few.

If only Professor Lanset had heard that _stupid_ sexist comment he'd made, things would be different.

"Good. Ms. Potter, meet me in Professor McGonagall's office next Saturday to serve your detention." Profesoor Lanset began to walk away down the corridor Lily had just come from as Lily and Cepheus walked in the direction of the Gryffindor common room.

"Oh, and Mr. Malfoy?" Professor Lanset looked over her shoulder. "I do believe your dormitories are to the left, not the right. We don't want to cause any more trouble, do we?"

Cepheus reddened and muttered something as he walked away from Lily, whose insides were still consumed by licking flames. As soon as her professor and enemy were out of sight, Lily aimed a kick at the wall, only to regret it, for stone walls were very dense and her kick was rather powerful, resulting in a blooming pain in her toes.

Lily swore under her breath, using a word she shouldn't know but learned from Teddy anyway. She huffed, and walked briskly back to the common room.

Upon entering, Lily found herself staring into the face of her brother, James.

"Merlin! How long have you been standing there like that?" Lily jumped, gasping. "That _scared_ me!"

James shrugged. "A few minutes."

Lily glared.

"I heard what you did to that Malfoy brat," James grinned.

"How?" Lily asked. There hadn't been anyone else to see the spat besides Professor Lanset.

"Let's say that for a little guy, he sure does have a big mouth," said James. "Sounds like the git deserved it. I don't know what he did, but I'm willing to bet he was asking for it."

Lily sighed. "You have no idea."

"I'd offer to beat him up for you, but you seem like you've got it covered," James said, attempting yet again to make Lily laugh, but to no avail. "How much trouble did you get in?" James asked knowingly, half with mock sympathy, half real.

"Detention."

"Which professor?"

"Lanset."

"Oh, no. Her? _Really_? You had to go and get yourself caught by _Lanset_?" James shook his head.

"Why? What's wrong with Lanset?" Lily asked worriedly, brown eyes growing wide.

"Oh, nothing," James said dismissively. "Just, last time I had detention with her, she made me feed her giant dodecapus."

"_What_?" Lily said. "Mum told me those weren't real!"

"Told me the same thing," James said, walking away, leaving Lily to wonder in horror about the twenty-armed sea creature for a minute, before she scampered off to find her friends.

Rory and Sam were sprawled in front of the fire, Sam staring thoughtfully into the flames, Rory aiming to send a wad of paper into fifth year Brian Waters' ear.

Lily fell into a sitting position on the ground with a hard _thud_.

"What's up?" Sam tore his eyes away from the dancing inferno.

"I have detention." Lily kicked at the ground with the toe of her sneaker.

"Why?" Sam asked, shifting so his body was facing her.

"Because Cepheus Malfoy is a prat."

Sam tossed her a small smile. "Took you this long to figure that out? Elaborate, please."

Lily sighed. "He insulted me and I hit him and Professor Lanset caught us and now I have detention."

Sam sucked in a breath, wincing. "Ooh, that's rough. I know I wouldn't want to get hit by you, that's for sure."

Lily lightly pushed his shoulder in a mock shove. "Oh, hush. You would've hit him too."

Sam laughed. "I'm sure I would have. Or more likely, I would've thought through a nice, thorough, foolproof plan that _wouldn't _have gotten me caught."

"If you're so smart, why aren't you in Ravenclaw, huh?" Lily raised her eyebrows, her annoyance and anger from earlier dissipating slightly.

Sam laughed. "Ravenclaw's for nerds," he joked.

"Speak for yourself," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Besides, Gryffindor looked more fun." Sam continued.

"And the girls are hotter!" Rory grinned, tearing his attention away from his rubber band and wand slingshot.

"Oh, charming," Lily laughed, before gesturing to Rory's weapon. "You're going to break your wand if you keep that up, you know."

"No, I'm not!" Rory said, taking the rubber bands off anyway. "So, when do you have detention?"

"Saturday at one," Lily sighed, her face distorting in disgust.

"What? No, you can't!" Rory protested abashedly, clearly appalled.

"What? Why?" Lily replied, confused.

"Saturday's Gryffindor's match against Slytherin! You can't miss it!"

Lily groaned, hitting her forehead with her palm. "You're _right_. Bugger, this _bites_."

"Do you think she's going to make you serve it?" Rory asked, eyes wide.

"I don't see why she wouldn't," said Lily. "It's not as if the world revolves around Quidditch."

For a moment, Rory looked like he was going to object, but changed his mind.

Later that night, as the last dregs of the students were filing out of the Great Hall, Lily felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Hey, Lily," said Lysander.

"Hi, Lysander. Did you hear from your dad yet?" Lily replied, hanging back a moment to let a girl pass so Lily could walk next to Lysander.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually. He sent back an owl right away. He does want the chimera. His friend Coriolanus is coming Saturday at one to pick him up. He wants you to meet him behind the greenhouses."

"Great!" Lily grinned, and Lysander smiled and ran to catch up with his friends. As soon as he was gone, Lily smacked herself in the forehead for the second time that day, realizing what she had just agreed to.

"Oh, _brilliant_," she muttered. Now Lily had to both deliver a chimera and serve detention at once, not to mention in less than a week, convince Hagrid to relinquish his new pet.

She made her way back to the common room, following a group of sixth years through the portrait hole.

Upon finding Sam and Rory seated at a table in one of the corners of the room, Lily pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Slight problem, boys," Lily put her chin in her hand and raised her eyebrows.

"What?" Rory replied, looking at her with mild interest.

"I've found out what we can do with Kitty. My friend, Lysander, his dad needs a chimera for some expedition he's going on," said Lily.

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Sam leaned back in his chair so that it teetered on its back legs and its back rested on the wall. He put his hands behind his head.

"He's coming to get Kitty this Saturday," replied Lily. "At one." Lily groaned. She let the arm holding her chin collapse so that both forearms sat on the table, her forehead resting on the topmost one.

"You're _joking_. Please tell me you're joking." Rory said, his face pallid.

"No," Lily shook her head.

Now it was Rory's turn to groan. "Great. This was going to be the best match of the _year_ and now we can't see it."

Sam hit Rory on the back of the head.

"You are honestly _so _thick," Sam half-laughed. "We have bigger problems than missing a Quidditch match."

Rory sighed. "Fine. But you two owe me. What's the plan?"


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: This chapter is super short, so I'm really sorry about that! I just really wanted to try my hand at attempting a cliff hanger, twist ending sort of thing, so please let me know if it worked! For the most part, I have the plot worked out, but if anyone has any ideas, let me know and I'll see if I can work them in! Thanks for reading!**

The next day, Rory, Sam, and Lily were walking down behind the greenhouses during lunch, where they could talk privately and not risk being overheard.

"Run through the plan again?" Rory asked, sitting down on a rather large rock.

"Lily's going to go to McGonagall's office with the Invisibility Cloak and when she finds a time, escape from detention as soon as she can. You and I are going to take the chimera down here and wait for Lily and Coriolanus while trying not to die or get anyone else killed." Sam smiled, chuckling slightly before his face resumed it's serious undertone.

"Easier said than done," Rory raised his eyebrows, but didn't continue.

"It'll be a cool story when it's all over and done with. James will be _so _jealous," Lily grinned, her face lighting up and her eyes sparking when she realized she'd have one over her eldest and most mischievous brother.

"And then maybe I can get that fifth year to notice me," Rory said, his face lighting up much the way Lily's did. That is, until Sam hit him on the back of the head.

"You goof, you've never _talked_ to her!" Sam grinned.

"Yeah, but if she sees me wrangling a _chimera_, _she'll _talk to _me_," Rory said,

"She'll talk to you as soon as Duncan Hutchinson can walk into class without almost dying," Lily grinned, and after a beat, the three children burst into laughter.

"Too true, too true," Sam wiped tears of mirth from his ocean eyes, still laughing.

"You heartless git," Rory gasped, hysterics still riddling his voice.

"I love you too, mate," Sam managed to get out.

"You two are ridiculous!" Lily spluttered in between breaths.

None of trio was able to discern exactly why Lily's comment was so funny, but nevertheless, it took a few minutes yet for the last giggles to die out and fade away.

Lily buried her face in her hands. "I can't believe we're actually doing this." Lily groaned, her voice muffled.

"Chin up, amigo," Sam grinned, patting her on the back. "It's not like we're in mortal danger or anything."

This sparked a second round of giggles, though not as long or vivacious as the first.

"Seriously," Sam said. "We'll come out on top. We usually do."

"_Usually_," Lily pointed out.

"Oh, don't be such a pessimist!" Sam scolded light heartedly.

"I am a _realist_," Lily turned her nose up snootily, imitating Zinnia Zabini, the delightful Slytherin spawn of Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini, to perfection.

Sam made a face like he had just smelled something really terrible. "And _I _am the queen of Sheba," he retorted in a haughty, fake voice.

Rory, wanting to join in on the fun, made a face like he had to go to the bathroom and said in a squeaky voice, "How may I help you, Madame Realist and Your Highness?"

And once again, the three dissipate into fits of laughter.

"What in the name of Merlin's lacy delicates was _that?_" Lily struggled to catch her breath.

"I dunno, but it was brill, wasn't it?" Rory placed his hands on his hips proudly.

Sam patted Rory on the back, giving Lily a private smirk. "Bloody genius, mate."

"We really should focus on how this is actually going to work out," Lily said, fighting away the giggles that remained. "More specifically, how we're going to sort out Hagrid."

"That's going to fun," Rory wrinkled his nose. "And easy."

Sam ignored Rory's comments. "I guess we should let him know as soon as possible. Give him more time to adjust right?"

Lily couldn't believe she was about to say this, but, "How does right now sound?"

"Nip it in the bud," Sam agreed.

"_Now_?" Rory groaned.

"Yes, now," Lily pushed herself off the ground, knowing that if she didn't do it now, she'd procrastinate until the last second, which never worked out. "You scared, Rory?" Lily raised her eyebrows, knowing full well that if Rory thought that _she_ thought he was scared, he'd do just about anything to prove her wrong.

"Are you in?" Lily held out a hand to Sam, who took it and heaved himself up.

"Always," he grinned, his eyes twinkling. "I mean, I'm so scaredy cat-"

"All right, all right, I'll do it!" Rory protests shrilly. "But if we _die_, I'll kill you both."

"That's the spirit!" Sam thumped Rory on the back and he winced slightly, but shoved Sam for good measure.

"You know," Lily said thoughtfully as they made their way around the greenhouses towards Hagrid's hut, "if getting the chimera out of Hogwarts isn't death wish, this is."

"Ah, but death is the next great adventure," Sam said superciliously.

"Not if something better comes along first," Rory smirked. "Like that fifth year…" he sighed dreamily.

"Do you even know her name?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Nope," replied Rory, his eyes glazing over. "But that's the beauty of it. It's chemical."

"Sure it is, Lover Boy. Sure it is," Lily cooed and ruffled his hair, sharing a smirk with Sam, who laughed.

The trio walked on for a minute or two longer, before they came to the stoop of the hut where Hagrid lived.

Lily knocked on the door, and after a sound like a massive elephant was emitted from inside the house, Hagrid opened the door holding a handkerchief, his face wet with tears.

"Hagrid?" Lily prodded gently. "Erm, what's wrong?"

"It's Kitty!" Hagrid sobbed, blowing his nose loudly again. "He's run away!"

The three children and paled and shared a look that said one thing: bugger isn't a strong enough word for this situation.


	13. Chapter 13

"What do you mean he's 'run away'?" Rory asked, his voice weak.

"He means that_ Kitty has run away_, you half-wit!" Sam whispered to Rory, frustration slipping into his usually logical tone.

"Come in, come in, you three, we can' talk out here. I'll explain when we get inside," Hagrid ushered the trio through the door, seating the three of them on a chair big enough to be a couch. Lily's feet didn't come close to reaching the floor from her perch on the seat.

"Hagrid, would you please explain what's going on?" Lily asked in her most sympathetic, kind tone, hoping the hide the blatant fear apparent on her face.

"Well, I was out on the grounds," Hagrid's voice quivered. "Yeh know, tendin' to the giant cabbages and whatnot, when Fang an' Shadow started barking like mad, so I went and ran fast as I could back up here, and then Kitty-" his voice cracked and his mopped his face with the handkerchief, sniffling.

Lily patted his arm. "It's okay, Hagrid. You can tell us."

"Yer so much like yer grandmother!" Hagrid sobbed. "I didn' think I'd live to see another Lily quite as kind. Yer father didn' have it in 'im, and yer mother was too busy beating him 'round the head. She had her moments, though, she did."

"Hagrid, we're getting a bit off topic, aren't we?" Sam stepped in, and Lily was grateful. She loved her family, but she didn't want to hear about her parents. Her parents were her parents; she knew them better than practically anybody!

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry. Where were we?" Hagrid wiped his face again, great tears dripping from his beard. "Oh, righ'. The dogs were barking, and I ran. An' when I got back, the fireplace was smashed in and Kitty was gone! I only just gave it a good Reparo when you three came about."

"Oh, Hagrid," Lily's eyes widened, in fear, frustration, and sympathy.

"Hagrid, that's terrible!" said Sam. "Are we going to be able to get him back?"

"We? Yeh mean yer willin' ter help me? Oh, I knew you three were my favorite students!" Hagrid pulled the trio into a bone crushing hug, spilling his giant tears all over them.

"Er- of course we're willing to help you, Hagrid!" Rory replied, overly enthusiastic.

"You three are really the best!" Hagrid was sobbing in the trio harder now.

"Can't-breathe-" Lily wheezed, and Hagrid let go so quickly that the three children toppled to the floor.

Rory rubbed his head and Sam brushed dirt off his pants while Lily pulled herself up off the ground using the arm of the huge chair.

"So, where do we start?" Sam asked after a moment of awkward silence.

"Well, how 'bout I give you three detentions for tomorrow an' we'll go an' search the Forbidden Forest?" Hagrid replied eagerly, a grin spreading over his face, much like the way one would spread over a child's who'd dropped his ice cream and was now being handed a new one.

Rory, Sam, and Lily looked at each other uneasily before agreeing.

"All righ', so I'll see you three tomorrow at six thirty, yeah?" Hagrid double checked, and the children nodded. "Now, you best be off to the castle 'fore class starts without yeh!"

Hagrid's enthusiasm and energy caused him to turn a gentle pat on the shoulder as they were leaving to a hard shove out the door, and Rory, Sam, and Lily ended up in a heap in the dirt.

"Last time I'm ever offering to help Hagrid," Rory grumbled, picking himself up and attempting to brush the grime off his robes.

"Oh, hush. Do you _want_ to have a deadly creature running around here?" Lily looked at him.

"Girl's got a point, mate," Sam clapped Rory on the shoulder.

Rory muttered an answer, picking stray Chocolate Frog cards off the ground that had fallen out of his pockets in the stumble.

Rory shoved the cards back into the pockets of his robes and stalked off to the castle without another word. Lily looked to Sam, who sighed, then shrugged.

"I don't know, Lily," he answered her nonverbal question of, 'Why's he upset? Will he calm down?'

"He's so…so…" Lily struggled for the right word.

"Moody?" Sam supplied as the two began their trek back up to the Entrance Hall.

"And difficult," Lily sighed. "I wish he'd just cooperate, you know? He just has to make everything so _complicated_. He's so stubborn."

"I know," Sam nodded. "He'll come around, though. He always does."

"But what if we run out of time?" Lily looked at Sam with her head cocked to the side, her eyebrows knit together. "What if he's too late? Why can't he just work with us?" Her eyes filled with unwelcome tears as panic and frustration made the blood pound through her veins.

"I don't know, Lily," Sam said again. "We'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there."

"But _when_ will we get there?" Lily turned on Sam, angry at how passive he was being. How could he be so calm at a time like this? "How can you just act like everything will work itself out? Rory's up and left again, and who knows who long he'll be gone! Everything could _fall_ _apart_ by then, and you're acting like it's all fine and normal!"

"Lily, listen-" Sam put his hands up apologetically, but Lily wouldn't have it.

"No, Sam, _you_ listen! We're _running out of time_! We don't have the whole infinity of forever to wait for this! We have to act now and if you're going to act like an idiot about it, I'll do it by myself!"

"Lily, you're being ridiculous-"

"Just shut _up_!"

"Lily, _stop_ _it_!"

"Leave me alone!" Lily yanked her arm out of Sam's grasp, for he had held onto it to try and stop her from running away, but now that she was free, she bolted up to the castle. Sam was left behind to kick himself for trying to reason with her, which was clearly impossible

Lily cursed under her breath for letting the tears slip out of her eyes and she roughly brushed them away, embarrassed. It just wasn't _fair_. Couldn't her friends see that this was important? Why couldn't Rory just keep his head? And why couldn't Sam see that action had to be taken _now_ and that they couldn't wait any longer? There was a chimera out there for Merlin's sake! People were in danger and Hagrid could be arrested if he was caught!

Sam was driving Lily crazy with his air of sitting and waiting and plotting and planning. They already _had_ a plan! If Rory would just man up and face the challenge instead of being a wimp about it, and if Sam would stop being so passive about everything, they could get something done here!

Lily pushed past a group of older girls, determined not to let them see her cry. She didn't care that lunch was almost over and class would be starting again. She didn't even care that she was probably going to be late if she didn't collect her things from the Gryffindor tower now.

All Lily wanted to do was either hit something, which would hurt and she didn't really fancy doing, or be alone. So she sprinted in between the throngs of students and into the first floor bathroom, which she'd heard no one ever used. What she'd forgotten was _why _no one used it: Moaning Myrtle.

She ran into the bathroom all the way to the back and kicked the wall, but instantly regretted in when her toe bloomed in pain, only frustrating her further. Lily gripped the sides of the sink, looking in the mirror and taking in her reddish orange hair, which was now windswept and the wiry follicles were every which way, but Lily didn't really care. Her eyes were brimming with tears and her lower lip trembled threateningly. Her face was pale from the cold, except her cheeks and nose, which were bright red. Her hands stung from the sudden warmth of the castle.

Staring at herself, Lily's waterworks burst and she began to cry, really cry. Lily was left to cry in peace for a few moments, before Moaning Myrtle, who had been watching the scene from her perch on top of the side of a stall, spoke up.

"What's got you crying? A boy dump you?" she hiccupped gleefully. "At least you're not dead." The ghost stuck her nose in the air sanctimoniously.

Lily jumped, then bristled. "_No_. Who're you?" she whirled in the direction of the voice.

"Of course _you_ haven't heard about _me_," Myrtle replied, floating down to Lily from the stall wall. "No one _ever_ talks about poor, dead, weeping, Moaning Myrtle!" She began to wail.

"Moaning Myrtle?" Lily repeated, the memory of a terrified James recounting his accidental trip into this very bathroom.

"Yes, that's what I said." Myrtle snapped in return. Her lower lip shook as she said, "Aren't you listening to me? Are you too busy thinking about that boy to pay attention to poor, dead-"

"There isn't any boy!" Lily slammed her hand down on the cold porcelain of the rim the sink.

"Touchy," Myrtle smirked, somehow still managing to weep at the same time.

"Shut it," Lily growled, fed up with everything. All she wanted was to be alone!

"What's got your knickers in a twist, then?" Moaning Myrtle ignored Lily's comment, sitting on the edge of the sink and crossing her legs, a gossip-hungry look swelling in her eyes, her teeth bared ravenously.

"Nothing," Lily said, beginning to cry again, completely ruining her heart-of-ice attempt.

"Come on now, don't you trust Moaning Myrtle?" the ghost coaxed, pouting.

"_No_," Lily thought to herself.

"You can tell me _anything_," Myrtle prodded, her voice dripping in starvation of a good rumor and clearly stating that any secret wasn't at all safe with her.

Lily sighed, too annoyed to think clearly. "My friends are being prats, all right? That's it."

"Ooh, who are they?" Moaning Myrtle's mouth practically watered, relishing in the juicy gossip she was sure she was about to hear.

"Their names are Sam and Rory," Lily grumbled, now not only angry with the ghost and her friends, but annoyed with herself for the moment of weakness that had allowed her to give in and answer Moaning Myrtle's request.

"They _are_ boys!" Myrtle looked at Lily half accusingly, half delighted.

"Yeah, so? It's not like I was _dating_ one of them," Lily cringed at the thought. It would be like dating a brother. And while dating a brother was illegal, it was also just plain _gross. _

"I don't believe you!" Myrtle sing-songed, flying in a circle above Lily's head.

"Well, you should! Now, will you _please _just leave me alone?" Lily crossed her arms and scowled at the ghost.

"Hmph!" Moaning Myrtle whined, pouting, clearly upset she wasn't going to get any more out of the young girl. She dove into a toilet and Lily assumed she was going on yet another adventure through the S-bend.

Worn out now, not to mention finally alone, Lily sighed and ran a hand through her locks. She leaned against the wall and slid down until she was seated on the cool tile floor.

"What am I going to do?" she mumbled to herself.

"Huh?" a confused voice said.

Lily looked up to see Lysander Scamander standing in the doorway, redness creeping up his cheeks and looking utterly perplexed.


	14. Chapter 14

"_Lysander_?" Lily choked.

"Er…hi." Lysander blushed an even deeper red than before.

"What are you doing in here?" Lily scrambled up off the floor. "This is the girls bathroom!"

"It-it is?" Lysander stuttered.

"Yeah," Lily frowned and crossed her arms in front of her chest, though it was halfhearted and she could tell Lysander knew it.

"Sorry- I was looking for the boys'," he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.

The two children looked at each other for a second longer before they both began to giggle, nervously at first, then into full-blown laughter.

"Three doors down to the right," Lily grinned.

"Thanks," Lysander smiled, embarrassed, and exited to find his own restroom.

Lily heard the distant sound of a bell ringing, and sighed, exiting the bathroom, no longer frustrated, but merely exhausted, both mentally and physically. She crept up to the Gryffindor tower and into the common room, hurrying into her dorm and grabbing her school bag before rushing down to Transfiguration.

Lily squeezed through the group of students slowly easing their way through the door and sat in her usual desk. A minute later, Sam slid in next to her.

"Lily, look, I'm sorry. I just don't want to rush into anything. We have to be careful, right?" Sam started to apologize.

"No, yeah, I'm sorry too." Lily rubbed her eyes, stifling a yawn. "I'm just tired and frustrated and-" she cut herself off abruptly.

"And…?" Sam prodded, nudging her.

"And…I'm sort of scared," Lily admitted grudgingly. "So much could go wrong, and we can't really afford to waste any more time than we already have. And I still don't know how I'm going to be in two places at once."

Sam nodded, mulling the newfound insight over. "It's okay to be scared. I'd be worried if you _weren't_ scared to be dealing with a chimera. I know I'm a little nervous. Worse comes to worse, you just blow off detention, right?" He smiled at her, his eyes twinkling.

"Right," Lily smiled back, taking a roll of parchment and her quill and ink out of her bag as Professor Lanset began to lecture.

Leaving the classroom, Lily bumped into Maggie McAlister, a girl in her year and house.

"Hey!" Maggie grinned, surprised, for Lily had literally bumped into her.

Over the past few months, Lily and Maggie had become reasonably good friends, though Lily was nowhere near as close with Maggie she was with Sam and Rory. Lily and Maggie had beds next to each other and tended to work on homework together in the library, but that was the extent of their friendship. Still, Maggie was Lily's closest friend that was a girl, and spending time with girls was refreshing after all the time with the boys.

"Sorry," Lily grinned back. "Got pushed." She jerked her thumb behind her towards Erich James and Duncan Hutchinson, who were shoving each other around behind the two girls.

"Understandable," Maggie laughed.

Lily smiled at her friend and ran on down the corridor to find Sam and Rory, who'd thankfully come to his senses ten minutes into class. She'd grown to have a sort of sense about them, and had a feeling that if she didn't catch up, they'd cause trouble that she'd either have to stop or want to be in on.

And true to both her instinct and the boys' nature, the two striplings were crouched behind a suit of armor, attempting to stifle their laughter, and watching Cepheus Malfoy turn into a turtle by way of an elaborate prank of theirs.

Lily came running down the corridor, having spotted them behind the armor.

"Hey, what are you two-!" she demanded.

"Shh!" Sam grabbed her hand and pulled her behind the armor. "Just watch."

Rory, unable to contain his joy any longer, was rolling on the floor, shaking with fits of laughter, enjoying all too much watching Cepheus's reaction to slowly being turned into a reptile.

Lily cocked an eyebrow, rolled her eyes, and said, shaking her head, "You two are terrible."

"Oh, you know you love it," Sam grinned. "I'm _irresistible_." He fluttered his eyelids and made a kissy face.

"Yeah, and so are Uncle George's Turtle Truffles," Lily raised her eyebrow again, staring at Sam pointedly, before her eyes wandered back to the young Malfoy and she broke into laughter.

As Cepheus streaked down the hall yelping and screaming, surprisingly fast for someone turning into a turtle, a voice sighed, "Oh, Lily, Lily, Lily."

"Dear Merlin!" Lily cried, her heart rate increasing significantly. She whirled around to face her dear brother James standing behind her and shaking his head.

"James, you almost gave me a heart attack!" Lily clasped a hand over the left side of her chest, her heart thudding beneath her fingertips.

James chose to ignore this, instead saying, "You really are an amateur, baby sister."

"Not a baby," Lily grumbled, glaring at James, already annoyed at him for scaring her.

"I mean _Turtle Truffles_? _Really_?" James took a seat next to Lily and the boys on the floor. "Ferret Fruit Chews would've been a much better choice, honestly."

"Shut it, James," Lily scowled at him, crossing her arms over her chest dangerously, a position that meant business. It was just a step away from the hands on the hips, which was equal to a sign of impending doom. In short, Lily was _angry_.

"Sensitive, are we?" James mock-pouted, shoving his lower lip out and enlarging his eyes, talking in a baby voice.

"Piss off." Lily's knuckles whitened as she gripped her upper arms with her hands. "I mean it, James." Her voice was eerily even and serene and totally un-Lily-like, though her eyes flashed dangerously.

"Cheeky." James replied. "Kids these days, I tell you-" Lily shoved James. Hard. He fell back against the ground, landing hard on an elbow.

"Just leave me alone, all right? Don't act so high and mighty, James! Just because you're a magic _prodigy _and I'm not doesn't mean I can't handle myself!"

"Lily…"

"Please, James." Lily sounded defeated. "Leave me alone. For now, at least."

James, having gotten up, held up his hands in defense and backed up a few steps, before turning his back and leaving.

Lily buried her face in her hands, taking a deep breath and calming herself down. Sam and Rory were looking at her quizzically.

"Bad day?" said Sam.

"Bad day," Lily agreed. He squeezed her shoulder.


End file.
